Emerging as a central presence in Philadelphia’s drill landscape, rapper Skrilla pursued wider recognition in 2024 through the tracks “GOD DAMN” and “Blahdahdahdahdah.” These cuts anchored his first major-label effort, Underworld, and the follow-up project Zombie Love Kensington Paradise.
Born Jemille Edwards and raised amid Philadelphia’s Kensington section by parents of mixed Black and Mexican descent, Skrilla channeled the surrounding environment of narcotics and street affiliations into his earliest recordings, even as those surroundings left his personal development intact. Beginning with the 2018 single “Green Snake” and continuing through the 2022 mixtape Kutthroat and 2023’s Gemini Season, he honed a trademark slurred delivery that mirrored the disoriented haze of intoxication while pairing it with distinctive production touches ranging from staggered drum patterns to somber choral interpolations.
That body of recordings secured Skrilla a contract with the prominent hip-hop imprint Priority Records, which promptly issued the 2023 single “Booted” along with the 2024 standouts “Blahdahdahdahdah” and “GOD DAMN,” each offering terse portraits of neighborhood existence and hazy self-aggrandizement. The last of these appeared on Underworld, which included contributions from G Herbo and a posthumous verse by local artist YNG Cheese, as well as segments underscoring his commitment to the Afro-Cuban faith Santeria. Nine months afterward came Zombie Love Kensington Paradise, spotlighting “Blahdahdahdahdah,” “Matte Black,” and “Chiraq.”
