Young Dolph
wasn’t just another street rapper
who blew up then stayed the same.
He fought his way out of the trenches in Memphis
and started giving back to the community.
And even though his loyalty to his hometown made him a local hero,
it also ended up getting him killed.
So today we’re breaking down the wild and tragic story
of Young Dolph -
a Memphis legend who was taken too soon.
Let’s get right into it.
Dolph was born in Chicago
but his family moved to Memphis when he was two years old.
When he was younger
they went back and forth between both cities to visit family,
but Dolph always knew Memphis as his home.
The crack epidemic of the 80s hit Memphis hard,
and unfortunately
Dolph’s parents both got addicted.
Dolph went to live with his grandma.
He called her “the meanest motherf***** in the world”
because she was so strict,
but she still couldn’t keep him away from the streets.
Dolph hopped off the porch and started hustling to support himself.
He always freestyled as a hobby,
but back in the day
he never thought about rap as a career.
That all changed after Dolph almost died in a car wreck
and a couple of homies convinced him to hop in the booth.
Dolph recorded a few tracks
and handed out twenty thousand cds in Memphis for free.
This was back before everyone started blowing up
off of SoundCloud and social media,
and Dolph had to get out and really hustle to get his music heard.
The hard work paid off though,
and not before long
he already had a buzz behind his name in Memphis.
Dropping his debut tape
made Dolph realize
that he could leave the streets behind
and focus on rap full-time.
But Dolph had bigger plans
than just popping off on the artist side,
and in 2010
he created his Paper Route Empire label.
That same year
he hit the mainstream when he dropped Welcome 2 Dolph World
with features from southern rap legends like 2Chainz and 8ball & MJG.
Dolph stayed on the grind,
dropping projects and building up the Paper Route label.
He was picking up more momentum everytime he released a tape,
then in 2013
he blew up even more
when he dropped a collab project with Gucci Mane.
Dolph was having a lot of success,
especially for an independent artist
who came up on his own grind without the help of co-signs and major labels.
Yo Gotti is one of the biggest rappers in Memphis,
and around 2014
he reached out to Dolph and wanted to sign him to his CMG label.
According to rumors,
Dolph and Gotti already knew each other
because Dolph was Gotti’s brother’s plug.
But when Gotti offered him a deal,
Dolph turned it down so he could stay independent
and create his own lane.
He told Sway in the Morning
that he just wanted to do his own thing
and there wasn’t any static,
but that’s not how Gotti took it.
At that point
it wasn’t a serious issue,
but later the situation heated up
and turned into a deadly beef.
Dolph kept it pushing and leveled up again
when he linked up with O.T. Genasis
and went double platinum off the track Cut It in 2015.
Then in 2016
he hit the mainstream again after he dropped his debut album
King of Memphis.
The project popped off
and hit #49 on the Billboard 200,
but not everyone was cool
with Dolph calling himself the king of Memphis.
There was obviously static going on behind the scenes with Gotti,
because in February 2016
Dolph called him out on Twitter and said
“Bra went from bein my #1 fan
and wanting to sign me
to being my biggest hater
#Facts.”
After Dolph turned Gotti down,
he ended up signing Blac Youngsta instead.
And when Dolph started taking shots on social media,
Youngsta hopped in and the situation started heating up.
He called Dolph a b**** and wrote
“When I C dat n**** Dolph
I’ma smack the shit out of em,
on my life.”
Then Blac Youngsta took it even further
by rolling up to Dolph’s hood
with a bunch of goons.
Gotti hadn’t said anything about the beef,
so Dolph aired him out
for letting his artists fight his battles for him.
He hopped on IG and called Gotti a hater
and even accused him of calling the cops on him.
Then Blac Youngsta made the beef official a day later
when he dropped the track Shake Sum and said
“Young Dolph Thorton,
wanna play h*
I’m on tour with the K, h*
Mac 11, Smith & Wesson, extended clip,
100 rounds on draco
How the f*** you the king of Memphis,
you ain’t from the city,
you from Chicago
F*** boy you better lay low
Killers move when I say so
My lil n**** rob and steady killin’
rappin’ n****s mama’s and s*** lil n****”
The situation cooled off
while Gotti and Dolph focused on their own careers and labels.
Around the same time,
Dolph signed his cousin Key Glock to Paper Route Empire.
Glock came up in the streets too,
but he didn’t really know Dolph back in the day.
Key Glock started rapping in the ninth grade
and formed a rap crew with his homies.
He dropped a mixtape
called Whole Lotta Errthang
and picked up some buzz,
but then one of his homies in the group was killed
and Glock got locked up for a different shooting.
While Glock was in jail,
his aunt showed Dolph his music
and Dolph loved it.
Glock and Dolph used to see each other at family cookouts,
but Dolph didn’t even know that he was trying to rap.
So when Key Glock got out from the shooting charge,
Dolph linked up and offered him a deal with Paper Route.
Signing Glock was a huge win for Dolph and Paper Route,
but at the same time the beef with Gotti was heating up again
and Dolph was almost killed
right after he made the deal with Glock.
In February 2017,
Dolph sent a savage diss track at Gotti called Play Wit Yo B****.
He aired Gotti out for capping in his raps and said
“I hear you slick dissin’, but that s*** lame
All that make believe rappin’ about cocaine ‘’
Don’t play with me, H* Gotti, you a h*, man
You went from my biggest fan
to my biggest hater
Beggin’ me to sign with you,
but i had too much paper.”
Then he went after Gotti’s whole team and said
“They said them pussy n****s on your team iron your drawers
They say you make them p**** ass n****s call you boss
But they can’t call you king,
because that’s Dolph.”
Dolph also claimed
that he hooked up with Gotti’s baby mama,
and in the video for the track
he even stole a girl from a Gotti look-alike.
It was a savage move,
but it almost got Dolph killed.
One day after the video dropped,
Dolph’s SUV was shot over a hundred times
while he was in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Luckily Dolph was moving smart
and had the whole whip bulletproofed,
so he made it out without getting hit.
Blac Youngsta was arrested for the shooting
but they had to let him go due to lack of evidence.
Then a few months later,
the beef got violent again
after Dolph confronted Gotti at a hotel in Hollywood
and ended up getting shot three times.
One of Gotti’s homies was booked for the shooting,
but he was released because nobody would work with the cops
and they didn’t have enough evidence to take it to trial.
After the hotel shooting,
the beef went quiet again
and Dolph went back to focusing on Paper Route.
In 2018 he was offered a label deal
worth $22,000,000
but Dolph turned it down again
so he could do everything his way.
Most rappers only dream about getting a deal like that,
but Dolph knew that having control over his career
was more important in the long run.
And it’s not like Dolph needed a major label to help him pop off.
In 2019
he dropped a collab tape with Key Glock
and hit #8 on the Billboard 200.
Then in 2020,
Dolph’s album Rich Slave blew up and reached number four.
Dolph really started from the bottom
and turned himself into a millionaire,
but he never let the success go to his head.
A lot of rappers will throw a few bucks to charity
to get some clout on social media,
but Dolph really cared about his community
and was always giving back.
He hosted turkey drives every year,
donated thousands of dollars to local schools,
and even wanted to buy a community center
to help keep kids out of the streets.
Dolph learned how important helping people was from his grandma,
and he started a foundation in her honor
called the Ida Mae Family Foundation.
Just two days before he was tragically murdered,
Dolph visited a cancer center in Memphis
where one of his relatives had been treated.
He wanted everyone there to know how much he appreciated their work,
and the center put out a statement that said
“Our associates were deeply touched by his sincerity and effort
to extend such gratitude.”
Dolph also talked to them about his plans
to hand out turkeys all over Memphis before Thanksgiving,
but unfortunately he never got the chance.
On November 17th, 2021,
Dolph was at his favorite bakery in Memphis -
Makeda’s Homemade Butter Cookies.
He had shown love to the spot just six days earlier on social media,
and nobody ever expected
something crazy to go down there.
While he was in the shop,
two shooters rolled up and started letting off shots through the front window.
Dolph didn’t stand a chance.
The shooters opened fire with an AK 47 draco and pistol,
and Dolph ended up getting shot over twenty times
and dying on the scene.
It was alleged that Dolph was strapped with his own gun
and even shot back
but tragically he didn’t make it.
His death was a major loss for Memphis
and the entire rap game,
and at first the cops had no idea who the killers could be.
It took a few months,
but they finally caught a break in the case
and issued a warrant in January 2022
for a rapper named Straight Drop.
Then two dudes named Cornelias Smith
and Shundale Barnett were arrested later.
There's still a lot of questions about why Dolph was killed,
but in November 2022
the cops booked a dude named Hernandez Govan
and claim he’s the one who ordered the hit.
It’s not clear why Govan would have wanted Dolph dead,
but he does have ties to the rap game.
His daughter was a rapper signed with Lil Uzi Vert
named Lotta Cash Desto,
and she was brutally shot to death last year in Houston.
Rumors say her death is related to Dolph’s,
but right now there’s no evidence to back the story up.
Dolph’s family, friends,
and the whole city of Memphis want answers about his death,
but it looks like it will be a while before they get them.
The judge presiding over his case told them
that the trial won’t even start in 2023,
so they’ll have to wait at least a year before they get closure.
Young Dolph was one of the most important rappers to ever come out of Memphis.
He didn’t just hit the charts then leave his city without looking back.
He used his position in the rap game to help everyone around him,
and all he wanted to do was give back to the community.
Dolph was only 36 when he died,
but he already made a massive impact on his city
and everyone around him.
Unfortunately he was taken
before he could accomplish everything he wanted to,
but Dolph’s legacy will live on with his music
and the thousands of people he impacted.
Rest in peace to Young Dolph.