Source: Justin Ford / Getty
The shooting death of Young Dolph outside of one of his favorite spots, Makeda’s Cookies, rocked the Hip-Hop world as well as his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. The business has now reopened and its first act was to honor the slain rapper.
The Black-owned bakery, named after young Makeda Denise Hill who passed away at age 6 from cancer, was one of Dolph’s favorite places to frequent. He had even done a video in front of the shop the week before he was murdered. Makeda’s two locations had been closed since the shooting, but the downtown shop at 301 Jefferson street just reopened. Operations manager Raven Winton wants to help keep Young Dolph’s legacy alive, and one way that they plan to do that is to name his favorite cookie from Makeda’s – chocolate chip – after him. “That was one thing that Dolph did, [he] use to say when you get off the expressway. He was like, ‘I can smell y’all. I’m getting off the expressway. I had to come in,” she said to the local news network WREG. “To know that we’re not going to see that face anymore is…I’m trying to hold back tears.”
The Makeda’s location in the Airways neighborhood where Dolph was killed will remain closed until the end of this year, out of respect for all those still mourning his death along with the company and to make repairs on the damage done to the shop due to gunfire. In the meantime, Makeda’s Cookies has set up a GoFundMe page to help with the costs of repair. On the page, they revealed that they were denied assistance from their insurance company since the damage that was incurred was not due to “fire, flood or natural disaster.” Presently, they’ve received over $86,000 in contributions towards their final goal of $150,000, with a lot of support from Dolph’s partner, Mia Jaye.
