Young Dolph announced this month that he would be taking a break from music in order to spend more time with his family. Perhaps the last few days in quarantine have shown him that he needs rap in order to remain sane because, instead of sticking to his retirement, the Memphis spitter promised a new body of work at the end of the week. Making the announcement on Thursday (March 19), the rapper was expected to come through today with some fresh vibes, but they were nowhere to be found. He has since offered an explanation as to what’s going on.

According to Dolph, the album has been delayed because of coronavirus-related issues. He revealed that it was still on the way, but was unclear about when we could expect it.

“itS AbOUt tO dROP, SORRY fOR dElAY.. CORONA VIRUS hATiN ON MY CAMPAiGN,” wrote the Paper Route Empire head honcho on Instagram.

Young Dolph previously vowed away from music, noting that he would be passing the torch to Key Glock, one of his artists coming out of Memphis. It looks like he has had a change of mind and is sticking with us for the foreseeable future.

Are you looking forward to some new Young Dolph music?

Memphis rapper Young Dolph announced earlier this month that he would be quitting music to have more time with his son. It was unclear if that meant he would be retiring full-time or if his musical output would simply be reduced. After all, the idea of “quitting music” in rap is more of a myth. Nobody really quits… Nicki Minaj “retired” last year and, already, she’s dropped a number of return singles and features. As for Dolphino, the 34-year-old leader of Paper Route Empire may be blessing us with his final body of work tonight, confirming that his new album is dropping in a few hours.

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“MY NEW AlBUM dROPPING tONiGht,” wrote the rapper without revealing its title or any tracklisting information. With The Weeknd also releasing new music tonight, it’s looking set to be a pretty exciting evening for hip-hop fans.

Young Dolph’s future in the game is a little cloudy. There is still a good chunk of people checking for his drops, but he seems prepared to pass the torch to Key Glock. The two collaborated on Dum And Dummer, which some viewed as a father-son kind of dynamic. Do you think Dolph will have the same impact on the business side that he’s had as an artist?

The leader of Paper Route Empire, Young Dolph has some big things going for him at the moment. At the time of its release, we didn’t realize that Dum & Dummer would become a torch-passing moment in history but, as they say, all good things must come to an end. After growing his business to new heights, Young Dolph has officially decided to take a step back on the music end, revealing that he is hanging up the microphone to spend more time with his family.

“Highly considering quitting music because I wanna be with my kids 24/7,” wrote the 34-year-old Memphis rapper on his social media profile a few days ago. When Complex reached out for a comment from Dolph, he confirmed that he would be calling it quits.

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“I’m done doing music so I can go kick it with my son,” reportedly said Young Dolph, fully prepared to pass off the baton to one of his mentees.

“Key Glock is already poised to be the new torch bearer,” added a representative for the rapper, which makes complete sense given their collaborative history. Glock is just one of the Memphis artists that Young Dolph has taken under his wing in recent years.

It’s unclear if Dolph’s decision to retire is a permanent one or if, similar to Nicki Minaj, he’ll just be back at a later date. As of now, the status of his unreleased music is also unknown.

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Memphis hip-hop is poised for a major year, and Young Dolph‘s Paper Route Empire is poised to be key players in that movement. Dolph himself has already amassed a solid discography under his belt, having dropped off eighteen mixtapes and six studio albums since coming into the game in 2008. Many artists might simply call it a day after that much music, and a new story from Dolph’s recently-scrubbed-clean Instagram page suggests he might be flirting with the idea of retirement himself.

“Highly considering quitting music because I wanna be with my kids 24/7,” he writes, with an emphatic shrug emoji. A fair point and one that might be wholly understandable were it not for the following (confrontational) slide. “Yall n***as never touched a vacuum sealer until your rap career took off, just to look cool,” he challenges. “Yall n***as ass backwards.” Adding insult to injury, he punctuates his statement with the increasingly popular clown emoji.

It’s unclear if there is a correlation to be made here; perhaps Dolph is growing increasingly frustrated with the more performative nature of the rap game, which in itself seems to glorify some of the bleaker aspects of his own experience. There are plenty of reasons such flagrant attempts to portray a false narrative might rankle Dolph — and once someone finds themselves rankled past a certain threshold, one simply cannot abide to be rankled any more. Not while there are the simple joys of family living to be experienced.

Sad though we would be to see Dolph take a backseat from the game, if it would bring him peace of mind and happiness, who are we to complain? And even if he stops rapping as a solo artist, the Paper Route Empire team remains strong all the same, no doubt benefitting from his leadership qualities. In short, a man must do what a man must do.