Rapper Young Dolph, 36, was shot and killed outside of a Memphis bakery on Wednesday afternoon, as police have confirmed.
The musician — real name Adolph Robert Thornton, Jr. — was visiting Makeda’s Butter Cookies when the incident took place. According to Maurice Hill, the owner of the shop, Dolph was inside the store buying cookies when someone drove up and fired at him around 1 p.m. Dolph was a frequenter of the bakery, shouting them out on his social media channels just last week.
The rapper debuted in 2016 with his album King of Memphis, and his most recent album, Dum and Dummer 2, was released earlier this year in March with fellow rapper Key Glock. The album featured various guest appearances, including features by superstars Megan Thee Stallion and Juicy J. It debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 and was his highest-ranking album on the chart to date. Outside of music, Dolph was also known for his great sense of humor.
— XXL Magazine (@XXL) April 24, 2020
Since rising to fame in the early 2010s, Dolph has spent a considerable amount of time giving back to the Memphis community, with FOX13 reporting that he often partnered with the Memphis Athletic Ministries charity to hand out turkeys around Thanksgiving, speak to school children, as well as donating money to his former high school, Hamilton High School.