Young Dolph

Young Dolph, born Adolph Thornton Jr. on July 27, 1985, in Chicago and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, was a rapper celebrated for his gritty, self-made path in the industry. Building his career almost entirely as an independent artist, he founded the label Paper Route Empire, which came to include acts such as Key Glock, Big Moochie Grape, and Kenny Muney, and became known for a business model that prized ownership over major-label deals.

Dolph s sound combined a distinctive Southern drawl with sharp, quotable adlibs and a blunt, unshakeable confidence, heard on standout tracks like «Preach», «Play Wit Yo Bitch», «Major», and «100 Shots». His debut album, King of Memphis, arrived in 2016 following a run of well-received mixtapes, and he followed it in 2017 with Bulletproof, released after he survived an assassination attempt — a title that took on added weight given what he had lived through.

His flair extended beyond music: in 2020 he famously gifted a fan a Lamborghini Aventador to promote his album Rich Slave. On November 17, 2021, Dolph was shot and killed in Memphis at age 36, cutting short a career defined by resilience, independence, and an unmistakable Memphis voice.