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The Long History Of Young Dolph And Yo Gotti’s Relationship
Yo Gotti has inarguably received more mainstream success in the past couple of years than any other artist from Memphis. Especially with his most recent single, “Rake It Up” with Nicki Minaj peaking at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, Yo Gotti is hotter than he’s ever been. Young Dolph is another rapper from Memphis, and though he may not be a household name, he’s undoubtedly some serious competition for Gotti as the king of Memphis. He’s a self-made millionaire who often boasts about his refusal to sign to anyone, and the musical accomplishments he’s made without a label is indeed impressive.
On Tuesday, Young Dolph was shot multiple times on the corner of Hollywood and Highland in Los Angeles, California. Though Yo Gotti was initially taken in as a person of interest–and it has been said that the shooting happened as a result of the two artists staying in the same hotel and getting into an argument–Corey McClendon, one of Gotti’s supposed associates, ended up actually being arrested.
If you’re new to the Dolph/Gotti beef, or even if you’re fans of both and just aren’t sure where exactly their feud began, here’s an extensive timeline of the tumultuous relationship between the Memphis rappers:
The distaste between Young Dolph and Yo Gotti begins when Dolph refuses to sign to Gotti’s record label in 2014, after the release of his mixtape, High Class Street Music 4: American Gangster.
Dolph made an appearance on Sway in the Morning to promote his mixtape on August 2, 2014. During the interview, he discusses his decision not to sign a record deal with Yo Gotti because he would rather see his own investment in himself. This is where he first points out that Gotti was offended at him turning down the offer, but Gotti has never officially confirmed that.
Things went quietly for a while after that and there was no apparent feud between the two rappers, but their relationship caught traction again more than a year later in early 2016.
This tweet, of course not mentioning anybody by name, implies that his failed efforts to sign him to CMG made Yo Gotti bitter–turning him from a fan into somebody praying for his downfall.
This tweet is followed up by Dolph a few days later titling his mixtape, King Of Memphis. Yo Gotti, throughout his career, has repeatedly referred to himself as the same boastful name, so Dolph’s title choice definitely seemed like a direct shot directed at his fellow rapper. Again, Gotti never made a public comment about the incident.
This was followed a few days later by an appearance at E Bro In The Morning, where Dolph addresses the choice to name his tape King Of Memphis. He explained that it wasn’t meant to be a diss to anyone at all and stated, “All my partners King, everybody got some paper, everybody move like I move, and they morals and all of that,” saying that everyone should think of themselves as kings.
On March 2, 2016, CMG signee Blac Youngsta started to go at Young Dolph, threatening to slap him if he ever saw him in person. He posted a video to his instagram saying:
“Dolph you a b*tch, you a soft a** n***a, if you got a problem, say you got a problem…You ain’t even no King of Memphis, he ain’t from the city, b*tch.”
Later that same day, Youngsta showed up in South Memphis to stroll through Dolph’s neighborhood, making a video to prove he was serious about his desire to slap him. Him and his crew didn’t run into him that day, and Dolph simply replied by tweeting a laughing face and a thumbs down.
On March 12, Yo Gotti still chooses not to speak on any beef between him and Young Dolph, but does comment on what’s going on between his labelmate Blac Youngsta and Dolph.
He’s not happy with the way Youngsta handled the situation saying, “My advice you know I don’t move like that. I’m going to always tell, not only him but, any youngin’ don’t handle your business like this.” It appears he doesn’t want to be associated with his antics, even though he’s the catalyst.
Dolph doesn’t buy that Yo Gotti isn’t the one encouraging his artists to go after him, and went to Instagram to gripe in a now-deleted clip. He said throughout the video and the caption:
“First thang first everybody kno it’s u HO GOTTI, dats sendin your artist out to say da lame sh*t he been sayin and doin. I GUESS U STILL MAD CAUSE I DIDN’T NEVER SIGN WIT YO PU**Y A**.. Or is u still in your feelings cause u fail out wit Gucci Mane and u was mad at me cause I kept rockin wit Gucci.”
This is the first time Dolph brings Gucci Mane into the picture, before only citing not signing with Gotti as the issue behind the feud.
The very next day, on March 17, Blac Youngsta released a diss track against Dolph titled, “Shake Sum.” The lyrics state:
“A Dolph don’t wanna play, hoe/I’m on tour with the K, hoe/Mac 11’s, Smith-N-Wessons, extended clip, 100 rounds on the Drago/How the fuck you the King of Memphis, you ain’t from the city, nigga you from Chicago/Fuck boy you better lay low, killers move when I say so,”
After a quiet couple of months, Blac Youngsta appeared on The Breakfast Club on September 9 and officially stated that his beef with Dolph was over, also saying that Gotti was always fond of him despite the narrative he might have pushed. He also admitted that his videos threatening Young Dolph with guns in the background were stupid.
Now we’ve made it to 2017, where Young Dolph once again ignites the tension between him and Yo Gotti, this time very blatantly. On February 1, 2017, Dolph released “Play Wit Yo’ B*tch,” a diss track that calls out Yo Gotti by name.
The entire track calls out Yo Gotti, again stating that the reason they aren’t positively acquainted is due to Dolph’s refusal to sign with him. The lyrics very simply state his grievances:
“You went from my biggest fan, to my biggest hater
Begging me to sign with you, but I had too much paper”
He also goes on throughout the song talking about how Gotti made a career of dissing legends like Three 6 Mafia, and had some sort of “beef with a dyke.”
Of course, the cover art is a picture of “Ho Gotti’s” baby moma calling Dolph’s phone, which also fueled rumors that another reason for the rivalry is a woman.
Gotti subtly replied via tweets on that same day, alluding to the fact that he’s unbothered by Dolph calling him out.
A week later on February 9, Dolph went on DJ Holiday’s radio show to say that even though Gotti hasn’t outwardly responded to his shots, he’s been sneak dissing throughout his past two projects. He’s referring to Cocaine Muzik 9: White Friday and The Art of Hustle.
“His last two mixtapes, he’s trying to sneak diss Dolph…It’s like, you playin. You wanna play? I ain’t going play how you wanna play. We going play how I wanna play. I’m going to expose you. Facts on top of facts. He don’t know how to respond. ‘Cause there ain’t no response.”
Meeting the criticism that Dolph was repeatedly taunting Yo Gotti without him ever receiving a response, he wanted to make it clear that the shots coming from CMG were simply going under the radar.
On February 11, Yo Gotti finally made a diss track with one of his artists Moneybagg Yo titled, “Don’t Beef Wit Me.” Still, Gotti chooses not to make any direct shots at Dolph–even though the song’s title very obviously shows that’s exactly what he’s doing–and basically states throughout the track that he’s too real and too rich to argue with anyone.
https://www.audiomack.com/song/hustle-hearted/dont-beef-wit-me
Dolph later releases the “Play Wit Yo’ Bitch” music video, only to poke more fun at Yo Gotti who he repeatedly calls a, “big head motherf***er” in the song. The video is released on February 24, and features a hilarious look-a-like of Gotti, continues to poke fun at the CMG CEO without backing down.
Here’s where the rap feud turns violent.
On February 25, Young Dolph was the target of a shooting in Charlotte, N.C., in which over 100 rounds were fired at his vehicle. Due to his bulletproof truck, not one shot made it to anybody in the car, and Dolph was unscathed.
After the shooting, Dolph tried to distance himself from the incident, and also the entire beef with Yo Gotti. On March 7, he did an interview in which he claimed that whole beef was old news, also pretending not to know anything about the shooting they were talking about.
On April 1, Dolph took a different tone as he decided to confront the shooting head on: dedicating an entire album to talk about the fact that he was shot at over 100 times and left the scene untouched.
The tracklist for the album, Bulletproof, is as follows:
“100 Shots”
“In Charlotte”
“But I’m Bulletproof”
“So Fuck ’Em”
“That’s How I feel (feat. Gucci Mane)”
“All Of Them”
“I’m So Real”
“I Pray For My Enemies”
“I’m Everything You Wanna Be”
“SMH”
The whole album taunts the shooters, especially in the first track, “100 Shots,” playfully boasting, “how the f*** you miss a whole 100 shots?”
On May 16, Blac Youngsta was one of three men who surrendered to authorities in Charlotte for their alleged involvement in the shooting. “Charlotte-Mecklenburg police charged Blac Youngsta, Frederick Black and Antavius Gardner with six counts each of discharging a weapon into occupied property and felony conspiracy.” Youngsta was released on bail.
This further fueled rumors that the shooting had to do with the beef between Gotti and Dolph, and people grew scared that Young Dolph’s taunting of the shooters with his album would only make him a bigger target.
As featured in the XXL interview posted before, Dolph since the Charlotte shooting has insisted that he wouldn’t “go out like Biggie or Tupac,” meaning nobody was going to assassinate him.
Fast forward to September 26, and another attempt on Dolph’s life was made. The alleged story is that there was a scuffle on Hollywood and Highland–reportedly between Yo Gotti, Young Dolph, and their crews–that resulted in Dolph being pushed to the ground and shot multiple times in broad daylight. The two were reportedly staying at the same hotel, outside of which the shooting took place.
Yo Gotti was initially taken in as a person of interest, but has since been released and his associate Corey McClendon was arrested.
Dolph is said to be in critical but stable condition, and is expected to make it through his injuries from the shooting.
As the father of two beautiful kids and a beloved rapper and performer, hopefully this second shooting will be the last, and rap beef can continue to simply be played out in music rather than real life attacks.
