YOUNG Dolph’s manager has pleaded to the rap community to ‘put the guns down’ after his tragic death as a new pop-up launches in Los Angeles celebrating the star’s legacy.
The 36-year-old father of two was gunned down in a local snack store in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee on November 17, 2021.
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Young Dolph was inside Makeda’s Cookies – where he was a regular customer – when someone reportedly drove up and fatally struck him at around 1pm.
An autopsy report revealed the famous rapper – whose full name is Adolph Thornton Jr – was shot 22 times in the head, neck, and torso.
Three men were arrested in connection with his murder last year and the case is still going through the courts.
Young Dolph’s manager, Allen Parks, appeared alongside a number of creatives on Thursday evening in Los Angeles to honor the star with a new pop-up museum.
In an exclusive interview with The U.S. Sun, he pleaded for more understanding within the music community – as rappers continue to be victims of an epidemic of gun violence.
He said: “I think we just got to stop the senseless stuff, you know what I mean? We have got to find another way to handle our differences than violence. Put the guns down.
“We’ve got to learn to talk and agree to disagree.
“I just try to keep my faith and keep making good things happen. I hope he’s happy, we’re working really hard [to remember him].”
Krystal Garner, director of the Trap Museum who has worked on the pop-up, added: “I think we need to go back to valuing each other’s lives.
“Everyone has a whole life going on for them, whether it’s family or children, you never know.
“I think that’s the place we need to start, we need to have that empathy back.”
Asked how he feels about those charged in connection with Young Dolph’s murder, Parks also said: “I think we’ll let the criminal justice system handle that.”
The rapper left behind his long-term girlfriend Mia Jaye and their two young children, Tre Tre and Aria Ella, who Parks says are taking each day as it comes.
He was one of a kind.”
Young Dolph’s manager, Allen Parks.
“They came out to the exhibit for the grand opening in New York. So on the face of it, they are doing well, but it’s tough,” he told The U.S. Sun.
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The Dolphland pop-up museum was curated in partnership with Trap Music Museum, which also marks the newly released posthumous album, Paper Route Frank.
“We leave here and go to the Super Bowl, then to Houston, San Antonio, back over to the East Coast, DC, Chicago, places like that,” Parks said.
“We’re thinking outside the box, bringing the entrepreneur spirit, putting on the independent tour, and the most important thing is just to hold the brand up high.
“It’s important for us now to show how strong his legacy is, and it’s a chance for his fans to really connect with him when he’s not here.
“I don’t know how much more music we’re going to release, but this album’s doing well. It’s on the way to Platinum right now, so it is a blessing. The fans are screaming loud.”
Parks described Dolph as “one of a kind” and a “hip hop urban icon” due to his dress sense, cars, and the music he put out during his lifetime.
Asked what else made him unique, he said: “I think his upbringing, his inner drive. He was real self-driven and he had a vision.
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“If you listen to his music, his grandmother and his neighborhood and his family were really pivotal to the decisions he made. He was big on his community. So I just think he just stood for something.”
He said he was also smart when it came to business, as he once turned down a $22million record deal so he could work with another label and own his own masters.
Recalling the day he was shot dead, Parks, who was his manager for eight years, said: “I was in my studio in Atlanta, Georgia. The phone rang three, or four times.
“It was very impactful [to me] and now we need to focus on remembering him and everything he was.”
Following Dolph’s death, Justin Johnson, a rapper known as Straight Dropp, and associate Cornelius Smith were charged after alleging shooting the rapper in broad daylight.
Hernandez Govan was later indicted on charges of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.
Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy previously told FOX13 that Govan is the one who allegedly solicited the murder, although a motive is currently unknown.
All three men accused in the case have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.
The gunmen who fatally shot Dolph pulled up outside Makeda’s in a white Mercedes and opened fire through the window of the store before jumping back in the car and taking off, police said.
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