Skrilla

Jemille Marrail Edwards was born on June 3, 1999,^[2][3] and raised in Kensington, a neighborhood in Philadelphia that is widely known for its open-air drug trade.^[1][4][5] His mother is Mexican and from Texas, while his father is African-American and from Philadelphia. Edwards' parents met in college. He described his childhood as, "the best time of [his] life," and has stated that he began selling drugs in his neighborhood at around age 12. He also played basketball for the Amateur Athletic Union and ran cross country in his youth, but stopped playing sports in order to focus on selling drugs. He expressed his disinterest for basketball in November 2024.^[6][7]:5:19 As a teenager, he aspired to become a fashion designer and was a member of the Young Chances Foundation program. Though, he also said he always wanted to become a rapper growing up.^[8][7]:9:57 In 2013, he was involved in organizing a protest for the program against the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin.^[9][8] He has stated that, while in high school, he spent two and a half years under house arrest following multiple heroin-related charges against him.^[8]

Edwards was inspired by fellow Philadelphia rapper RecoHavoc, his childhood friend, to begin rapping.^{[citation needed]} He soon recorded Dog Food, his first song as Skrilla.^{[clarification needed][6][7]:10:10} He released his debut single Green Snake in 2018. His mixtapes Kutthroat and Gemini Season were released in 2022 and 2023, respectively. He was signed to Priority Records in 2023 and released his first single Booted later that year with them.^[1][8] His additional singles GD, released in January 2024, and Bhrome Heart, released in August of that year, had followed.^[10][4] His album Underworld was released in early 2024 and its follow-up, Zombie Love Kensington Paradise, was released on November 1, 2024, with a deluxe version released on February 28, 2025.^[11][12][13] He also appeared on 03 Greedo's 2024 album Crip, I'm Sexy.^[14]

A snippet of Skrilla's song Doot Doot (6 7) was uploaded to TikTok by an anonymous account in September 2024. It was partially popularized by Taylen "TK" Kinney, a basketball player for the RWE team of the Overtime Elite league who recited the song's lyric "six, seven" in many of his interviews over several months, and through TikTok videos referencing basketball player LaMelo Ball's height,^[15] and by February 2025, it had been used in more than 126 thousand videos on TikTok.^{[citation needed]} It was released as a single that month with a music video.^[16][17] Later that month, he posted on his Instagram account, inviting fans to the filming of a music video with livestreamer N3on in Kensington.^{[citation needed]} It amassed a crowd of more than 200 people that was soon broken up by Philadelphia police officers.^[18][19] In late February, Kyle Pagan of Crossing Broad called Skrilla, "the hottest rapper in the city of Philadelphia right now."^[20] He embarked on his debut headlining tour in 2025.^[8][21] In April 2025, Skrilla plans to quit drugs after May 2025 for his next album, Z, but he expressed concern that it will promote drug abuse. He said he quit Nitrous Oxide in November 2024.^{[22][7]:25:31}

Skrilla's music is largely drill mixed with rap and he is considered a prominent figure among Philadelphia drill artists.^[1] His lyrics often discuss selling and consuming drugs, also referencing santería and his Mexican heritage. His music videos usually feature drug users from Kensington.^[23] A.D. Amorosi of Metro called his melodies "raging and rough-edged" with "something swift and soulful about them", while Alphonse Pierre of Pitchfork described his flow as "woozy", "swerving", and "punctuat[ed] ...with unexpected pauses and purposeful stutters", and his beats as "eerie".^[11][10] For Passion of the Weiss, Harley Geffner defined Skrilla's rapping style as featuring "onomatopoeic" ad-libs and switching between "delicate" and "heavy" flows and "speed[ing]" and "slow[ing]" the pace of his rapping.^[4] He has stated that he makes all of his music while under the influence of drugs.^{[6][clarification needed]}

Edwards practices Santería. He discussed his beliefs in an interview titled "Skrilla On Sacrificing Goats And Chicken For His Religion" in August 2024.^[24][25][11] In August 2025, Edwards was working for a management deal with Miami Music MGMT and performed at the Lyrical Lemonade stage in Chicago. He additionally collaborated with YouTuber Brandon Buckingham for a vlog. He was shot in the neck mid-performance by a group of roughly five or six men who jumped out of a car, according to witness accounts. However, it is unclear whether Buckingham was also shot. In addition, DJ Akademiks assumed the news proclaimed Buckingham's cameraman was injured during the attack. After surgery, Edwards made a full but painful recovery from the wound, re-enabling his capability to speak.^{[26][7]:33:53:38:35:39:52}