Young Dolph Is Dead At 36 After Being Shot In Memphis

Young Dolph (real name Adolph Robert Thornton, Jr.) is dead after being shot in his Memphis hometown today (November 17). He was 36 years old.

Reports starting surfacing on social media this afternoon, with one of the earliest coming from ABC13 Memphis’ Jeremy Pierre, who shared photos of the crime scene and reported, “On the scene of a shooting on Airways. I’m hearing Memphis rapper Young Dolph may be a victim in the shooting. Shooting happened at Makeda’s Cookies.” FOX13 Memphis later reported that “three independent law enforcement sources confirmed” the rapper died in the shooting.

FOX13 also reports that Maurice Hill — owner of Makeda’s Butter Cookies, where the shooting took place — noted that his employees said Dolph walked into the store and bought cookies before somebody drove up and fatally shot him. TMZ also says that according to a source, “Dolph went into the store, and a vehicle pulled up, firing through a front window and striking the rapper.” FOX13 further notes that at the crime scene, “a massive crowd gathered around, some people laying on the ground in tears.”

Makeda’s was apparently one of Dolph’s favorite places in Memphis: On November 10, the Makeda’s Instagram page shared a video of Dolph outside the store and captioned it, “Young Dolph says every time he comes home he has to stop by Makedas Cookies.”

The Memphis rapper had steadily been increasing his profile in recent years. His highest-charting album is 2020’s Rich Slave, which achieved a peak at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart. His latest album, a joint project with Key Glock called Dum And Dummer 2, peaked at No. 8. Aside from Glock, Dolph has also collaborated with artists like Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Yachty, and Gucci Mane. His highest placement on the Hot 100 chart was his feature on OT Genasis’ 2015 single “Cut It,” which peaked at No. 35.

This summer, the rapper announced he was retiring but then changed his mind, saying, “I can’t do it, real talk. I can’t do. It’s like I’m the spokesperson for all of the street n****s and all of the n****s that’s on some independent sh*t […] and really come in the game on some sh*t… The n**** that really want to do this sh*t, like, I don’t really wanna tie myself to no major label — do this sh*t on my own. I’ma hustle this sh*t. I’ma grab that.”

Dolph was fresh off a performance at this year’s Rolling Loud New York festival at the end of October.

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