By Micha Green
AFRO D.C. and Digital Editor
mgreen@afro.com
Rapper Young Dolph was reportedly shot and killed on Nov. 17 in the place he has called home for more than three decades, and the city that helped put him on to worldwide success- Memphis, Tennessee.
The “Get Paid,” rapper, 36, was said to have been shopping at Makeda’s Butter Cookies when someone drove up and shot and killed him around 1 p.m. on Wednesday. Dolph was known to frequent the cookie shop and was filmed last week promoting the business.
The rapper, who rose to fame in 2016 with his album “King of Memphis,” was born Adolph Robert Thornton Jr. in Chicago, Illinois on July 27, 1985. At the age of 2, his family moved to Memphis, where the rapper proudly represented and called home.
He was shot in 2017 outside of a store in Hollywood, and first listed in critical condition, but eventually pulled through and survived the shooting. Initially, rapper Yo Gotti was considered a suspect in the shooting, but his name was quickly cleared.
According to past interviews in the Hip Hop community, the beef has continued and rapper Blac Youngsta warned Young Dolph to stay out of Memphis.
While some have taken to social media to try to tie Yo Gotti and Black Youngsta to Young Dolph’s shooting this time around, far more are preoccupied with the news of the sudden death.
“Ain’t no way, man. This one hurts. RIP Young Dolph,” one person tweeted.
“Everybody that me knows I play this music EVERY DAY. He was so genuine, so real, so kind to me,” rapper Megan Thee Stallion wrote on Instagram. “Rest in peace to a real legend.”
“R.I.P. to my friend Dolph this broke my heart,” rapper Gucci Mane tweeted.
Young Dolph was a family man and leaves behind children and a significant other identified as Mia Jaye.
Actress Keke Palmer spoke about meeting Jaye once on a flight and shared an anecdote that she felt was telling of Dolph’s character.
“I met on an airplane with her beautiful children on her way to see her man, laughing and talking the whole flight. When I found out her man was Dolph I fanned out. We were cool ever since,” the actress wrote. “To hear this news breaks my heart. The way folks these days seems unreal. Instead of being inspired or uplifted by someone’s success there is nothing but jealousy and envy and this hurts me for our community. Everybody is trying to make it and is carrying other people on their back when they get wherever they’re trying to go. When this happens you don’t just take away that life, but you hurt a million other people they were carrying. I’m so sorry for your loss, Mia, and I’m sorry we lost you, Dolph. Sending the most love I can conjure to these beautiful children that now have to grow up without their father.”
This story is continuing to develop.
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