New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Canton police found victim
James "J Skillz" Ricks lying face down on the floor of a bedroom with a single gunshot wound to his torso at a home on North Canal Street after 8:45 p.m., Assistant
Police Chief Juan Coy told the station.
Frederick Smith was arrested later Tuesday night on Frost Street.
Smith is being held on $1 million bond in the shooting death of Ricks.
Police said they believe the two men got into an argument when Smith shot Ricks in the stomach. Neighbors reported a lot of foot traffic into the residence at all hours of the day. Cloy said the house was used as a rap studio.
Known as one of Mississippi's Hottest Producers:
At the age of 15, J. Skillz started experimenting with rapping, performing at house parties, and free styling with childhood friends. It wasn't until the age of 18 when he started taking his music more seriously. He began learning how to make his own beats, and eventually producing for other local artist in the area. J.Skillz linked up with child hood friend and Cousin Christoper Tate a.k.a. Ceno Surpreme to form their group FLATLINE FOOT SOLDIERS. The members of the group were J.Skillz (known as Skillz then) Ceno, Jackball G., Hollow Tip, and Slugg G. They recorded their first independent album in 2004, but was never released. Due to personal circumstances, some members of the group had to relocate.
By the age 21, J. Skillz took his talents to Jackson, MS where he was running a recording studio in West Jackson, MS ironically it was called "The Studio" which was located in the Metro Center Mall. This is where J. Skillz started getting a buzz in the capitol city of Mississippi as a producer. After nearly a year of working at "The Studio" J.Skillz was approached by Deep South Productions C.E.O., whom was in ties with Interscope Records. J. Skillz was originally offered to be signed on to Deep South Productions as a house producer for the company, but the C.E.O. learned that J. Skillz was also an artist with a lot of potential. So they signed him as an artist/producer. They started recording his debut project "J.Skillz: On Da Map". During the process of recording, J.Skillz was beginning to create quite a buzz for an independent artist in the Jackson area with his street single "Boppaz feat. J.Cutta, & Platinum C." After recording the majority of the album, in the middle of 2007, the C.E.O. unprofessionally disappeared, leaving J.Skillz with another unreleased album.
But instead of giving up J.Skillz took it upon himself to obtain all the rights to his music and started his own label called A.N.B.O.S.
Music & Entertainment. A.N.B.O.S. means A NEW BREED OF SOUTH. He began putting all his songs on mixtapes. cleverly titling it "This Ain't Even The Album" releasing them through out the streets of Mississippi. Reaching cities in other states like Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, and Ohio. Eventually linking up with Jackson's own T.N.C. TOP NOTCH CLICK, PLATINUM C., MISTA KLEAN, 3D, REECE$MONEY, & SHAN MAC, to form the dynamic group A.N.B.O.S. SQUAD. In 2008 the group released their compilation mixtape "A.N.B.O.S.: THE MOVEMENT" which did extremely well in the streets moving over 5000 copies.
In 2009 J. Skillz was responsible for producing three of the hottest singles to come out of Mississippi with "I Just Wanna Talk 2 U" by Smacka Batch, "Paper Chasers" by Treasure Troll, and "Showin Out" by Rah Fontaine. As well as getting his own single "Haccuna Matata feat. 3d, & Reece$Money" from his second Mixtape titled "I'm Gon Shyne" into heavy rotation on Hot 97.7 in Jackson, MS.
In 2010 J. Skillz changed his name to "J.Skillz The King" due to a lot of other artist named Skillz and J.Skillz. That way it would cut a lot of the confusion down so that his fans can identify his music easier. It's 2011 and J.Skillz The King has been recording his official E.P. "I’m From Mississippi". Now that he has joined Expat Records, the world has the opportunity to hear his music the way it's supposed to be heard. WORLDWIDE! With his upcoming debut release of "I'm From Mississippi", which is an instant southern classic, It is an introduction of J.Skillz The King and the re-introduction of Mississippi Hip Hop to the world. It gives you a lot of different varieties of styles and production to give fans an idea of what kind of music to expect from the upcoming album. J. Skillz The King is one of the most highly anticipated artists to come out of the south. He can be heard in full at www.expat-records.com/jskillztheking
We should all look forward to witnessing one of the greatest of our time do his thing. J Skillz The King is very essential to today's hip hop culture with his addictive beats and versatile flow. It would be a catastrophe for the world to go on with out hearing his music.
