— Young Dolf in 2017

If Beale Street could talk, it might inform you that while Memphis, Tennessee, is proud, it’s a city that can be unafraid of its traumas. At its heart is a museum dedicated to the late activist Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement at the Lorraine Motel – the place where King took his last breath. More than half a century later, the murder of rapper Young Dolph, while not a comparative measure, leaves a serious emotional wound.

On Thursday, after a four-day trial, a jury found Justin Johnson guilty of Young Dolph’s November 2021 murder. Makeda homemade butter cookies. Johnson was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and possession of a firearm. While the verdict was being read, Johnson showed no emotion when he discovered he would spend the remainder of his life behind bars.

Ask many Memphis residents about the impact of Young Dolph’s murder and they’ll surely inform you that it’s a stain that the city will carry for generations. Gun violence in Tennessee, particularly in Memphis, persists polarizing issue though it’s noticeable disastrous consequences. The virus pandemic didn’t help the city, but the wave of violence didn’t abate even after the restrictions were lifted. Illegal carry was legalized in Tennessee in 2021, the same yr Young Dolph’s name was added to a grim list that has grown longer and longer over the years.

Although Young Dolph was born in Chicago, his rap fame is primarily related to Grind City. His music was a direct reflection of the roughness, darkness and pride of the very streets he survived and that ultimately took his life. His demeanor was country smooth and massive city southern elegant. And because it was a direct reference to Memphis, it was that city, as Young Dolph often told anyone who would listen, that turned him right into a Southern hip-hop deity.

Johnson’s conviction is something of a victory because Young Dolph’s family received justice. Carlissa Thornton, his sister, he spoke immediately after the verdict, thanking the court, the Memphis Police Department and her brother’s legion of fans for his or her dedication and support. But she did it while fighting back tears. Justice has never equaled peace. Justice never turned back time and resurrected family members. As necessary as that is, justice has never been equal to senselessness. The speedy trial was a masterclass in justice and one other brutal example of the devastating power of gun violence in America.

Cornelius Smith, who confessed to murdering Young Dolph’s murder. His testimony in Johnson’s trial proved to be its most electrifying and emotional element. Not only did he single out Johnson, but he also pointed to the late Anthony “Big Jook” Mims, the older brother of fellow Memphis MC Yo Gotti, as the mastermind behind the hit. Although Young Dolph and Yo Gotti were once cordial and Yo Gotti tried to sign him to his record label, Young Dolph’s Paper Route Empire label was plunged into crisis. perennial beef with Yo Gotti’s Collective Music Group (formerly Cocaine Muzik Group). Animus featured records (titled by Young Dolph’s venomous song “Play Wit Yo B—-”) and long-standing rumors of Yo Gotti’s involvement in numerous attempts on Young Dolph’s life, including 2017 shooting during CIAA weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Young Dolph’s SUV was reported to have been shot more than 100 times. This act prompted Young Dolph to directly address the focus of the aptly titled “100 shots” from the aptly titled album . According to Smith, Mims placed a $100,000 bounty on Young Dolph before he was killed in the January shooting.

Johnson’s attorney, Luke Evans, argued that his client was not guilty of the charges and it couldn’t be conclusively proven that he was at the scene of the killing. Prosecutors presented video and cellphone evidence that corroborated Smith’s claims, including phone calls between the two before the killing. Johnson and Mims also spoke immediately after the killing. These are legal facts that the jury found undisputed. What matters here – and what’s going to ceaselessly go down in the painful history of cases related to this very topic in Memphis – is how silly the whole scenario is.

During the trial, it was reported that Smith was offered $100,000 to kill Young Dolph, but was only paid $800. The Hitmen’s lack of cash shouldn’t be a brand new phenomenon. Duane “Keefe D” Davis, accused of murdering rapper Tupac Shakur in 1996, he has been saying for many years that Sean “Diddy” Combs paid Shakur and former Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight $1 million – but was never compensated. According to a former Los Angeles Police Department detective Greg KadenKnight then placed a $25,000 bounty on The Notorious B.I.G., which was split between his then-girlfriend and Wardell “Poochie” Fouse (who died in a drive-by shooting in 2003). It is unclear whether the full amount was ever paid. On August 12, rapper Nipsey Hussle’s older brother, Samiel Asghedom, he insinuated Eric Holder was sent to perform the assassination. Young Dolph appears to be joining this unlucky community.

The killers turned on one another on the stand, with Smith likely telling what he knew in exchange for future clemency when he stands trial for the same crime. As the Young Dolph family looked on, the entire city received a clearer and more painful picture of how much it had lost on November 17, 2021. It’s easy to say, and maybe more comforting, that Young Dolph “died for a reason.” The truth is that he died of something.

Young Dolph died due to street politics, which is simply too often solved with bullets as a substitute of even the faintest sense of brotherhood. Young Dolph died due to his pettiness. Young Dolph died over the promise of cash and a record deal that never materialized (Johnson, whose rap name was Straight dropapparently he was searching for a contract with Yo Gotti’s label). Young Dolph’s death is a microcosm of gun violence and its impact on rather more than simply the black community. Watching Young Dolph’s trial jogged my memory how deep the disease is and what number of would favor anything apart from a cure. Someone accessed Johnson’s Instagram Stories moments after the verdict was announced. “These niggas are taking criminal responsibility. I take responsibility on the street, whether I’m the biggest the keys can throw away before I even eat the cheese.” we read in a social media post.

Young Dolph’s life was taken away – more importantly, two children lost their father – due to this kind of mentality. This shouldn’t be unusual and that’s the tragedy. When the headlines disappear and Johnson’s name goes down in history as a thief of the worst respect, he can have to reckon with the proven fact that this mentality might be the reason for his life, in addition to the man he stupidly agreed to murder. The short time it took Young Dolph 22 bullets will replay in his mind for the remainder of his life. Over time, he will realize how unwise this decision was. Pulling the trigger but inheriting one other party’s beef when his future was likely removed from their priority list. This trial represented the value of Black lives and the weight of their responsibility.

In his 2014 street classic “Sermon” Young Dolph spoke about the mentality he saw in many individuals in Memphis and beyond. In hindsight, it is evident that it was a defense mechanism. He didn’t know who Justin Johnson and Cornelius Smith were, nor did he meet them in the final moments of his life. However, Young Dolph understood that the very streets his music spoke about – the same music that attracts on hostility resulting from generations of economic disinvestment, over-policing, and the influx of medication and guns – were dangerous, and subsequently became ghosts before him. , he rapped. .

These lyrics and plenty of others in his catalog provided the unofficial soundtrack of the trial. The truth is, we may never hear Justin Johnson’s name again. His name will, by design, be “straight removed” from the cultural consciousness, except in the case of Young Dolph’s legacy. He shouldn’t be a lot a villain as he is a victim of a very American sin. One man dies with air in his lungs, the other lives ceaselessly and won’t ever have the opportunity to breathe again. The only more painful irony comes from those that have to select up the pieces of an image that can never be whole again.