Young Dolph Dolph is a 32 year old artist in a time when trap rap, gangsta rap and mumble rap are the mainstream. He’s been putting out albums since 2011 and releasing music for almost 10 years now.
With his new album “Role Model” dropping in September 2018, Dolph is having arguably the best run of his career… but what made him so successful?
Young Dolph Early Life of Matthew Stafford
Dolph was born in Chicago (or somewhere…one of the South Side tracks on King of Memphis pointed out he hopped back and forth between Chicago and Memphis) where his mother was living with drug dealer turned rapper, late 80’s early 90’s super group member Cocoa Brovaz.
His mom moved to southside of Mempis right before Dolph turned one, so he spent most of his childhood there. A breakout rap star in high school had an influence on him musically at least, but it wasn’t until his teenage years that he got involved himself.
| Full Name | Adolph Robert Thornton, Jr. |
| Birth Date | July 27, 1985 |
| Birth Date | Chicago, Illinois, U. S. |
| Profession | Rapper |
| Girlfriend | Mia Jaye |
| Net Worth | $3 million |
| Death | November 17, 2021 |
Major Career Highlights
A big break came when Dolph linked up with Young Jeezy who got him started on Jeezy’s CTE label imprint through Def Jam. Dolph was a member of the CTE roster for a few years before he gained a momentum on his own. His first independent album 40-OZ mixtape got him recognition, and by 2012 he released his debut studio album Boss of all bosses which went gold off no features and minimal promotion from Interscope Records who released it as well as CTE.
This despite not being an official release until January 5th, 2013 due to money being owed from sales/streams from previous projects. He then made his major label debut with Life Under the Gun in 2014 which went Gold as well.
Dolph’s Allure
Dolph has been able to keep a strong following throughout eight albums… what gives? The answer might be his bold claims about being the king of Memphis, Tennessee which he has been backing up since at least 2012 when videos released on
WorldStarHipHop.com showed Dolph with a member of The Bloc Boyz dragging Young Jeezy’s name through the mud for not giving him any respect as well as claiming to make $100k off his first independent album 40-OZ… all while Dolph was making upwards of $4 million off his major-label debut Life Under the Gun (not including touring).
With each release after, he’s had more and more success despite still claiming to sell drugs.
One thing that makes Dolph different from other rappers is that he doesn’t claim to be “the best rapper alive” or have a grammy. His claim to fame is his longevity in an industry that deals with hip-hop being the “cool” thing for teenagers to listen to today,
a couple months from a year ago, and then something else next month. Dolph has been doing it for 10 years and still going strong while also working on other business ventures such as releasing his own line of rolling papers…
This combination of being so young while having the savvy veteran mentality seems to have worked out well for Dolph (and he claims he makes $15k+ per show).
He was one of this years Super Bowl Half Time Show performers but didn’t play due to injuries sustained during a shooting that took place at the end of January 2018 in Hollywood, California. With the amount of money he claims to have, I wouldn’t be surprised to see another Young Dolph net worth article in the future.
