Rapper Young Dolph Shot, Killed Outside Cookie Store In Memphis
Rapper Young Dolph was killed Wednesday in a drive-by shooting after leaving a Memphis cookie store.
Young Dolph, 36, whose real name is Adolph Robert Thornton Jr., was leaving Makeda’s Butter Cookies at about 12:30 p.m. local time. Thornton was on his way to deliver Thanksgiving turkeys when he was shot, according to his attorney.
Thornton was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police. There have been no reports about the possible identity of the gunman.
Thornton’s death comes a week after he had recently expressed his love for the bakery, in an Instagram post made to Makeda’s account. “All I came for is to get some Makeda’s,” he said in the post.
Thornton was born in Chicago but raised in Memphis by his grandmother. He has 4.4 million followers on Instagram.
Thornton released "King of Memphis" in 2016. In 2020, he released “Rich Slave,” which featured Megan Thee Stallion, and Juicy J. The album debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 2020.
Megan Thee Stallion took to Instagram on Wednesday after Thornton's death.
“Everybody that know me knows I play this man music EVERY DAY ! He was so genuine so real so to me and tfarris always !!! Rest In Peace to a real legend," the post reads.
Thornton had faced violent threats as a teenager and in recent years. In an interview with the Guardian in 2018, Thornton said he had been targeted since he "was 17, 18, 19.”
In September 2017, he was shot in an altercation with three men outside Loews Hollywood hotel in Los Angeles.
"I'm not a person that lives in fear," he told the Guardian. “You got some people who really worry about that kind of s---. I don’t.”
Other musicians took to social media to pay condolences to Thornton.
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