Young Dolph: A timeline of events following the Memphis rapper’s shooting death
Rapper Young Dolph was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee, on November 17, 2021. Here is a timeline of events following his death.
Ray Padilla, Memphis Commercial Appeal
On Monday, Shelby County prosecutors alleged in court that Anthony “Big Jook” Mims, the late brother of rapper Yo Gotti and a key figure in Gotti’s record label CMG, masterminded a $100,000 hit on fellow Memphis hip-hop artist Young Dolph that led to his murder in 2021.
The revelation came during opening statements in the trial of Justin Johnson for his alleged involvement in the murder of Young Dolph, whose real name is Adolph Thornton Jr.
Shelby County Assistant District Attorney Paul Hagerman detailed the alleged involvement of Big Jook and Johnson, known by the stage name Straight Drop, in Dolph’s murder in November 2021. According to prosecutors, Big Jook offered Johnson the murder of Dolph in order to get a contract with CMG.
Cornelius Smith, one of the other defendants in connection with Dolph’s death, testified Monday afternoon that he took part in the rapper’s murder because he had been promised compensation.
The Commercial Appeal has contacted CMG for comment.
The theory put forward by prosecutors represented the first confirmation by authorities that Dolph’s murder was the result of an ongoing hip-hop war between Gotti’s CMG camp and Dolph’s Paper Route Empire organization.
Here’s a look at the history of the feud.
2014: The feud between Yo Gotti and Young Dolph begins
The roots of the feud between Dolph and Gotti go back more than a decade. In 2014, Dolph – then newly known as a mixtape artist – began publicly declaring that he had turned down an offer to join Gotti’s record label, CMG.
Still, the feud between Dolph and Gotti remained a background story as Gotti’s star began to rise. Gotti, who started out as one of the city’s signature street rappers in the mid-’90s, released the breakthrough LP “The Art of Hustle” in 2016. It debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard album chart, reached No. 1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart and quickly became a breakthrough for the veteran MC. The album spawned a top-five rap and top-20 pop single, “Down in the DM,” which went platinum. The record also garnered support from his peers, from Lil Wayne to Pusha T, who guested on the project, to Kanye West, who performed with Gotti during a release party in Los Angeles.
In the winter of 2016, Dolph again alluded to Gotti and his decision not to sign with his label CMG on Twitter. He then released his debut album, The King of Memphis, which peaked at number 49 on the Billboard charts. The title alone was inflammatory and was seen as a direct challenge to Gotti’s claim to that position.
By 2016, the feud was mainly between Dolph and members of Gotti’s camp, most notably CMG-signed artist Blac Youngsta, who included a diss of Dolph in one of his tracks and made a video of himself roaming around Dolph’s South Memphis neighborhood heavily armed. Gotti kept a low profile for the most part, downplaying any animosity between him and Dolph in a video in September of that year.
2017: Young Dolph target of 2 shootings, injured in 1
In early 2017, it seemed possible that the whole Gotti-Dolph affair was a feud staged by both men to gain publicity. However, it was more likely that Dolph was trying to generate publicity of his own by attacking the more popular and established artist.
In February 2017, Dolph reignited the feud with a diss track targeting Gotti (in which he derisively referred to him as “Ho Gotti”). The song “Play Wit Yo’ B****” implied that he had been intimate with the mother of Gotti’s child.
Gotti took a very high-handed approach to the song, logging on to Twitter and noting that he would not bow to Dolph’s provocations. “I am a business partner with LA Reid and Jay Z,” he wrote, referring to CMG’s connection to LA Reid-run label Epic Records and Jay-Z’s entertainment management company Roc Nation.
After further pleas from Dolph, Gotti finally retaliated with the song “Don’t Beef Wit Me” – while still refusing to mention his rival by name. Dolph then responded with a video for “Play Wit Yo’ B****,” which mocked a Gotti lookalike.
Shortly afterward, on February 25, 2017, a vehicle Dolph was riding in was shot at during a tour in Charlotte, North Carolina. More than 100 shots were reportedly fired at the bulletproof car, and Dolph was unharmed and performed a concert that night. In April, after the shooting, Dolph released his second LP, aptly titled Bulletproof, which debuted at number 36 on the Billboard charts.
In May, Gotti’s accomplice Blac Youngsta was one of three men who turned themselves in to authorities in Charlotte for alleged involvement in the Dolph shooting. According to the Charlotte Observer, “Charlotte-Mecklenburg police charged Blac Youngsta, Frederick Black and Antavius Gardner with six counts each of discharging a weapon into inhabited property and criminal conspiracy.” Youngsta was released on bail and the charges against him were eventually dropped.
In September 2017, the situation escalated further when Young Dolph was shot outside the Lowes Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles. Later media reports suggested that the incident was the result of Dolph’s musical and personal feud with Yo Gotti.
Los Angeles police denied to The Commercial Appeal that Gotti – who was staying at the same hotel as Dolph – was a person of interest in the investigation. A few days after the incident, Corey McClendon of Memphis was arrested and charged with attempted murder.
2021: Young Dolph killed in Memphis shooting
Although the animosity between the Dolph and Gotti camps cooled and then seemed to come to a halt amid the COVID-19 pandemic, things exploded in the fall of 2021.
On November 17, 2021, Young Dolph was shot and killed at Makeda’s Homemade Butter Cookies on Airways Boulevard in South Memphis. Dolph, 36, had approximately 22 gunshot wounds to his head, back, chin, neck and arms, according to an autopsy report.
Over the next two years, Memphis authorities investigated the murder and eventually arrested and charged four men – including Dolph’s alleged shooters Justin Johnson and Cornelius Smith, the alleged mastermind of the plan Hernandez Govan, and Jermarcus Johnson, who pleaded guilty to three counts of accessory after the fact.
2024: Big Jook shot in Memphis
In January 2024, Anthony “Big Jook” Mims was shot and killed outside a restaurant in the Hickory Hill area.
The January 13 murder of 47-year-old Mims – Yo Gotti’s brother and a well-known figure associated with his record label CMG – appeared to be a targeted killing.
Although photos of a car suspected of being involved in the murder were released immediately after the incident, no suspect has yet been identified or charged in connection with Mims’ murder.
Those responsible have not publicly commented on whether they believe Big Jook’s death is connected to Young Dolph’s death.
Reporter Brooke Muckerman contributed to this report.
