Source: Variety / Getty
The streets are going crazy as day one of the highly anticipated trial for the murder of rapper Young Dolph has started. This trail is a result of a bitter feud that had long simmered between him and Yo Gotti. Cornelius Smith, one of the men charged with Dolph’s murder, dropped a bombshell in court, telling the jury that the motive for the killing was deeper than street beef — it was his daughter’s birthday, and he needed money to buy pills.
Smith, who faces murder and conspiracy charges, took the stand and painted a grim picture of the events leading up to Dolph’s tragic death outside Makeda’s Cookies on November 17, 2021. He confirmed that he and Justin Johnson, also known as Straight Drop, were the two men captured on surveillance footage stepping out of a white Mercedes just moments after Young Dolph entered the store. They opened fire in broad daylight, gunning down the 36-year-old rapper who had been a cornerstone of Memphis’ independent music scene.
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But things got even more intense when Smith revealed what many had suspected for years—that the hit on Young Dolph was ordered by none other than Big Jook, the brother of Yo Gotti. “Big Jook put a bag on Dolph,” Smith testified, suggesting that this was more than a one-off shooting—it was a hit with deep connections to a longstanding rivalry between two of Memphis’ biggest rap empires. To fully understand the gravity of Smith’s testimony, we have to go back to the beef between Young Dolph and Yo Gotti, a feud that had grown from rap battles to real-life violence. Dolph, whose real name was Adolph Thornton Jr., had always prided himself on his independence. He turned down a deal with Yo Gotti’s Cocaine Muzik Group (now known as Collective Music Group, or CMG), a move that sparked animosity between the two camps. Dolph wasn’t shy about airing out his feelings either. He dropped several diss tracks, most notably “Play Wit Yo B***h,” where he called out both Gotti and Big Jook directly. The tensions only escalated from there. Dolph became the target of multiple shootings, surviving an attack in Charlotte, NC, where his SUV was hit with over 100 bullets, a moment that inspired his song “100 Shots.” In 2017, he was shot again, this time outside a Los Angeles hotel, but managed to survive both incidents. The streets knew the beef between CMG and Dolph’s Paper Route Empire ran deep, but few expected it would end in his death. As Deputy District Attorney Paul Hagerman told the court in his opening statement, “Trying to make it on your own can create enemies.” According to Hagerman, Dolph’s decision to remain independent and not align with Yo Gotti’s CMG set the stage for a violent fallout.
In court, Smith’s testimony was chilling. He detailed how, after shooting Dolph, he felt nothing in the moment. “I wasn’t feeling nothing at the time. I’m not gonna lie. I was just trying to get some money,” he confessed. Smith claimed he only received $800 upfront and later learned that Big Jook had paid his attorney $50,000 after the hit.
But while Smith painted a picture of desperation and drugs as his motives, Justin Johnson’s lawyer, Luke Evans, urged the jury not to trust Smith. Evans claimed that Smith was just trying to save himself by pinning the murder on Johnson. “Photos of my client wearing similar clothes as the shooter don’t prove he’s guilty,” Evans argued. Johnson has consistently denied his involvement in Dolph’s murder. It was also revealed that Jermarcus Johnson, Justin’s half-brother, had already pleaded guilty in June 2023 to being an accessory after the fact. He admitted to helping the shooters communicate while they were on the run and trying to keep their whereabouts hidden from authorities. Now, as the trial unfolds, the streets are watching closely, hoping for justice for an artist who meant so much to Memphis. The trial is far from over, and with more details likely to emerge, the tension between Paper Route Empire and CMG will undoubtedly remain a dark cloud over Memphis’ hip-hop scene. The question everyone is asking: Will there finally be closure, or will the scars of this deadly rivalry continue to haunt the city?
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The post Day One of Young Dolph’s Murder Trial Gets Heated as Ties to Yo Gotti’s Camp Surface appeared first on The Morning Hustle .
The post Day One of Young Dolph’s Murder Trial Gets Heated as Ties to Yo Gotti’s Camp Surface appeared first on 92 Q .
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