Introduction: A Tennessee man

According to Cornelius Smith, Justin
Johnson and rapper Yo Gotti’s
brother shot Young Dolph. A

Memphis man testified Monday
that he and another man shot
rapper Young Dolph after Big
Juke, rapper Yo Gotti’s

brother. , gave him a blow.
On November 17, 2021, surveillance
video shows a young Dolph

getting out of a white Mercedes
outside a candy store in
Memphis, Tennessee and opening
fire in broad daylight 30

seconds after entering the store.
Smith testified on the first
day of Johnson’s trial to charges

of murder, conspiracy to commit
murder and possession of a firearm.
Smith is also charged with

murder and conspiracy. Johnson’s
attorney, Luke Evans, told jurors
in his opening statement not to

believe Smith’s testimony because
he wanted to defend himself. Johnson
is innocent, Evans said. Evans said

photos of him dressed like the
man in the video do not mean
he is the same person.

Assistant District Attorney Paul
Hagerman said in his opening statement
that Young Dolph

(real name Adolph Thornton Jr.) was
determined to succeed as an
artist with his Paper Root Empire label.

“If you try to go at it alone, you
can create hostility,” Hagerman says.
He mentioned that a rival

record label founded by
Yo Gotti, the Cocaine Band
(now known as Collective Band),

wanted Young Dolph to work for
him, but he declined. Young
Dolph then wrote a diss track

for the label and its artists as well
as the label’s “number two”, Big Joke.

Young Dolph had survived the previous shooting.

He was shot dead in September 2017 after a fight outside a Los Angeles hotel. In February of that year, his SUV was shot over 100 times in Charlotte, North Carolina. This incident inspired the song 100 Shots. He said he was saved because his car had bulletproof windows.

According to media reports, Big Jock (real name Anthony Mims) was shot outside a restaurant in January 2024.

Smith, who said he was shot in the arm and leg by Marcus Thornton, young Dolph’s brother, as he fled the cookie shop shootout, testified that he stole only $800 before his arrest. Mr. Big Jock then paid another $50,000 to the lawyer, he said.