What Happened To Young Dolph's Camo-Wrapped Cars?

Oct. 11, 2022 7:07 PM ET by Ian Wright Car Culture / 7 Comments

The murdered rapper's $3 million dollar car collection is out there.

When the rapper Young Dolph (real name Adolph Robert Thornton Jr.) was killed in a hail of gunfire, he was buying cookies for his mother in Memphis, Tennessee. He was survived by his partner of ten years and the mother of his children, Mia Jaye. Thornton, aka Young Dolph, was 36 years old, a self-made multi-millionaire with a record label (Paper Route Empire). He had grown alongside his career, was planning a wedding with his partner, and had been talking about retiring from the music business to spend more time with his kids. After leaving the specialty cookie store, he was going straight to a Thanksgiving charity event. He was known for passing out Thanksgiving turkeys to lower-income residents in the Memphis community.

Of course, rarely is someone sought out and riddled with 22 bullet holes without reason, no matter how absurd it might be. The upward momentum of his career had included a feud with Yo Gotti, and Thornton survived an attempted murder as a result. He also made other enemies on his way up, and his attitude to his wealth and success didn't help.

He dripped in Bling and bravado, including a garage full of appropriate cars for his rap superstar status, all of them camo-wrapped.

The Camo Wraps

From a distance, the camo wraps Thornton chose for most of his cars look like a regular olive, brown, and beige military wrap. Look closer at the 2018 Dodge Demon SRT, though, and you'll see one of the brown blobs is actually a dolphin wearing a crown - the dolphin being a reference to his real first name and his stage name, and the crown reflecting his ego and a landmark album title.

Thornton's feud with Yo Gotti started when he released his debut album called King of Memphis. Yo Gotti was just one of the Memphis rappers that took offense at the title, but through the camo, Thornton was flaunting the self-proclaimed title, despite surviving a shooting seemingly related to the feud. When asked about the camo wrap, Thornton told Dub Magazine, "I did the G-Wagon first and loved that shit, and decided this was gonna be the pre (Paper Route Empire) shit and just went crazy with it. I decided to put the camo wrap on all my cars."

Thornton's debut album dropped in 2016, and he didn't waste any time making sure everybody knew he was making money. He didn't have a dream car, though. The Mercedes G63 AMG seems inevitable for a young rapper making his first real money after hustling for ten years and building a loyal following. Equally inevitable is the Rolls-Royce Wraith, also camo-wrapped. That appeared in an infamous video Thornton put on YouTube where he sneered at a $22 million record contract before throwing it on the hood and saying, "Fuck the $22 million."

The last car he appears to have bought before his death on November 17, 2021, is a Rolls-Royce Cullinan. His other piece of British luxury was a Bentley Continental GT.

Young Dolph's Other Camo Wrapped Cars

Another inevitability for a rapper wanting to show off their wealth is at least one Lamborghini and Ferrari. Thornton's Ferrari was a 488, and completing the European section of his collection was a Mercedes Benz Maybach. His 2018 Lamborghini Aventador S was given away in a competition titled Rich Slave Lambo Contest in 2020 as a promotional event for Thornton's Rich Slave album. The family that won the car then sold it for almost half a million dollars. The rapper's response to the news they had sold the prize was to endorse the sale by writing "GET PAID" on social media.

The rest of Thornton's car collection was American and made up of a Dodge Demon SRT, a Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk, and a C8 generation Chevrolet Corvette. He was driving the Corvette the day he was killed.

What Happened To The Rest Of Young Dolph's Cars?

Thornton's Corvette was towed away from the crime scene, and its not clear if the investigation into his death is completely finished. As it wasn't part of the crime, it was likely not kept as evidence, so that should have been returned to his estate.

There have been reports that Thornton's partner, Mia Jaye, sold the cars, but the sources are not in any way reliable. Details on Thornton's will are, understandably, scant. But, given that he made sure his kids would be beneficiaries of his extensive property portfolio (something he didn't rap about or show off), then it's probably safe to assume she and the kids are taken care of. If the kids are direct beneficiaries of the cars, she could sell them (as their parent and guardian) before the kids are of age to drive them in order to maintain their lifestyle.

Jaye appears to be a smart woman and is all about looking after the kids. The cars are probably low on her list of priorities, and the kids are set financially. The only cars we could see appreciating in value are the Ferrari 488 and Lamborghini Aventador, so they would be the ones to keep for the kids if the rest are sold. Thornton rented out warehouse space for the collection; a monthly bill Jaye likely would rather not have. The smart move would be to remove the wraps on all but the Ferrari and Lamborghini, keep those, and sell the rest. If Jaye is the beneficiary for the cars directly, we wouldn't be surprised if they kept the wraps and were auctioned to support her Black Men Deserve to Grow Old campaign. It tackles the issue of violent crime in black communities and supports bereaved families.