How Young Dolph became the new voice of the Dirty South

Young Dolph is slowly taking over the game.

It’s been a long road from the streets of Memphis for Dolph, who picked up the mic after a near-death experience in a car accident coupled with the death of his grandmother shortly thereafter.

Initially, Dolph was just recording for fun so he and his friends had something to listen to in the car, but his unique voice, no-nonsense delivery, and real-as-fuck subject matter made him a local hero in Memphis.

Dolph released a non-stop stream of mixtapes over the years, gaining local fame and collaborations with ATL legends like 2 Chainz, Gucci Mane, and Peewee Longway gave him the Atlanta co-sign.

In 2015, O.T. Genasis dropped the street anthem “Cut It”, featuring Young Dolph. The song did wild numbers on streaming services (over 123 million streams on Spotify and over 178 million views on YouTube). To the general music public, this was their introduction to Dolph’s Memphis drawl.

In 2016, despite almost a decade of mixtapes, Dolph dropped his official debut studio album King of Memphis. It was a statement that some in the city didn’t take too kindly. Fellow Memphis rappers Yo Gotti and Blacc Youngsta took shots at Dolph over the King of Memphis moniker.

The beef, specifically with Yo Gotti, escalated over time and when Young Dolph released “Play Wit Yo’ Bitch”, one of the most savage diss tracks in recent memory, the dispute reached a fever pitch.

Then Dolph’s sprinter was littered with 100 shots in Charlotte. Dolph survived the shooting and performed that very night, later releasing his second studio album Bulletproof that heavily focused on that incident.

Weeks ago, Dolph was the target of another shooting, this time in LA in broad daylight (mere minutes after we published this tribute to the Memphis rapper). Dolph again survived and has now released his mixtape Thinking Out Loud.

Much of the beef between Dolph and Gotti revolves around Gotti’s attempts to sign the rapper to his Collective Music Label. But Dolph has always shown his dedication to doing this all on his own. Young Dolph remains unsigned and has funded his own label, Paper Route Empire, all off his previous street hustle.

Young Dolph is unstoppable and the latest incidents around Dolph only confirm his legend.

Hey HEY!