Trial in daytime ambush of rapper Young Dolph 3 years ago to begin in Memphis

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Dolph grew up riding his bike and playing basketball in a Memphis, Tennessee, neighborhood and later built a rap career that included owning an independent music label called Paper Route Empire.

He became a local favorite for his charitable work: donations to local high schools, paying rent and covering funeral costs for others, and distributing Thanksgiving turkeys.

He was in Memphis to deliver turkeys to families at a church when a visit to his favorite cookie shop near his childhood home turned into an event that shocked the city and the entertainment world. Young Dolph, whose real name was Adolph Thornton Jr., was shot and killed in a daytime ambush on Nov. 17, 2021.

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Nearly three years later, a trial in the 36-year-old rapper’s murder is set to begin Monday. Justin Johnson has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and is set to face a jury from the Nashville area after his defense attorney argued that intense media coverage and social media attention would make it difficult to seat a jury from Memphis.

Another man, Cornelius Smith Jr., has also been charged with first-degree murder. His attorney, Michael Scholl, said his trial date will not be set Monday. Smith has pleaded not guilty.

Dolph’s older sister, Karlissa Brown, said Dolph’s family and friends were patiently awaiting trial and praying for justice for the father of two.

“We want everyone involved in this crime to get what they deserve,” she said in a phone interview. “It was an absolutely senseless murder.”

On the day the rapper was killed, two men got out of a stolen Mercedes-Benz and opened fire on Makeda’s Homemade Cookies before fleeing, authorities say. As police searched for the suspects, they released images from surveillance video showing two men getting out of a Mercedes and shooting into the store.

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After more than a month on the run, Johnson was arrested in January 2022 in Indiana. Smith was arrested on a warrant for a carjacking involving a Mercedes.

Authorities have not disclosed a motive for the incident. Two other men have been charged in the shooting.

Hernandez-Govan pleaded not guilty to orchestrating the murder. In June 2023, Jermarcus Johnson pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiracy after the fact to murder by assisting Smith and his half-brother, Justin Johnson.

Jermarcus Johnson admitted to helping the two shooting suspects communicate via cellphone while they were fleeing from authorities and helping one of them communicate with his probation officer. Jermarcus Johnson was not sentenced.

Immediately after the shooting, the bakery was transformed into a makeshift memorial for Young Dolph, with fans praying in the parking lot and writing messages of condolences and love on the plywood covering the windows that had been hit by the shooting. The bakery closed for several months but has since reopened.

He was also honored by the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies during a game. Murals of the rapper have been painted all over the city, and a neighborhood street was named after him.

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Known for his portrayal of hard-living street life and his independent approach to music, he began his career by releasing several mixtapes, beginning with 2008’s Paper Route Campaign, and multiple studio albums, including his 2016 debut King of Memphis. He has also collaborated on mixtapes and other albums with fellow rappers Key Glock, Megan Thee Stallion, T.I., Gucci Mane, 2 Chainz, and others.

He has had three albums reach the top ten on the Billboard 200, with 2020’s “Rich Slave” reaching number four.

Dolph’s sister said his desire to be an independent entrepreneur led him to create Paper Route Empire.

“He didn’t want to be boxed in and put into a box, like when you join some of these other brands,” Brown said. “It was about having something of his own, something he built and made himself, that he could ultimately use to help influence others.”

Dolph Jr. was born in Chicago, and moved to Memphis with his three siblings when they were young. His parents struggled with addiction, so they moved to be near their grandmother.

“We had a fun childhood, and my brother always had the independent mindset of a big brother,” Brown says. “My sister and I were older, but he always had this leadership role, like, ‘I’m the protector, I’m going to protect you.’”

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He was an artistic child who loved to draw and hang out in Castalia Heights, a working-class neighborhood that sometimes showed young Dolph the gritty side of Memphis that he later portrayed in his music, Brown said.

“He wasn’t the kind of kid you see standing on corners and stuff like that, but he was definitely street smart,” she said.

Young Dolph’s legacy lies not only in his music, but also in his charitable work, including the Edamame Family Foundation, named after his grandmother. The charity holds an annual day of service in his honor.

“Our grandmother was the person people would turn to for help, and of course she would go and do it,” said Brown, the foundation’s president. “It’s something that came naturally to us, to be able to help people and give to them. It came out of the kindness of her heart.”

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