Today is another sad day amongst too many sad days in rap music. Young Dolph survived a murder attempt back in 2017, but the rapper born Adolph Robert Thornton, Jr. was shot again in Memphis on November 17, 2021 and didn’t make it this time. It seems his assailants knew Dolph’s habits as he was shot while frequenting Makeda’s Butter Cookies, a favorite shop that he had promoted in a more official capacity only a week earlier. That’s as horrifying as it is depressing.

In what I can only call a tragic coincidence, his most viewed video to date on YouTube (as a solo artist and not as a featured guest) is “100 Shots,” a song whose title directly references the last attempt on him four years ago.

It unnerves me to read my own review back then and see these words: “I’d love to hear more of Dolph’s real life harrowing exploits given how many times he’s been caught in bad situations and still come out on top.” Unfortunately Mr. Thornton did not come out on top this time. I’d like to send my condolences to his cousin Key Glock as well as all of his friends, family, labelmates and fans. I’d like to pray that his death doesn’t set off a wave of retaliatory violence in response, but I’d be naive to think that it won’t, because this shit never ever seems to stop.