An artist known as much for his unflinching lyrics about his near-death experiences as he was for his sense of humor, and an altruistic relationship to collaborators and fans, Young Dolph understood people were not the sum of their good deeds or public beefs.
Dolph, a flashy rapper who loved designer clothes, luxury cars and hilarious punchlines almost as much as he loved the city of Memphis, was in an era of his career defined by his non-stop work ethic and his passion for helping rising rappers.
He collaborated with the likes of Gucci Mane and Megan Thee Stallion, as well as Memphis legends Juicy J and Project Pat, and achieved mainstream success — his last solo album, 2020’s Rich Slave, peaked at No.
“I put ice on everybody around me just to see them shining,” Dolph raps on the opening track “Talking To My Scale” before ceding the spotlight to his roster of Paper Route Empire signees for much of the 23-song compilation.
With lyrics like “They don’t want you to live, they don’t want you to ball,” the song became an anthem for anyone who’d ever felt like they’d been unfairly doubted or plotted against.
In the end of the video, Dolph leaves the hospital smiling, and the video turns to shots of him spending time in a mansion with his son.
Dolph, a rapper who was given every reason to be hardened by the circumstances of life, told me he felt “blessed.” It was a sentiment he’d learned from his father at a young age.
“Rich crack baby, momma and daddy both used to smoke rocks,” he rapped on 2018’s “Black Queen.” “Rich crack baby, now I’m smoking kush with my mom and daddy on a yacht.” The ode to his mother wasn’t the only time he celebrated her or his grandmother, whom he credited with raising him and making sure he graduated high school.
In person and in his music, he was always clear that his elder’s shortcomings were a result of systemic, not individual failings and refused to demonize them for any of their choices.
Listening back to that brief moment in the wake of his death is painful because Dolph sounds so carefree and confident, his Memphis accent on full display as his typically deep voice gives way to light, full-throated laughter.
As videos of Dolph doing good deeds for fans began to resurface on social media in the days following his death — one in which he gifts a Lamborghini to a fan, and another showing him hand over $20,000 to two others — I kept thinking about what the rapper said when I asked him about these kind gestures back in 2019.
In the ways he memorialized his own family and held up his city, Dolph demonstrated his understanding of people as more than the sum of our generosity or our flaws.