Born Kendred T. Smith in Hollis, Queens, New York; the eldest of 5 children (4 boys and 1 girl) and a twin. Music has been has been apart of his family well before he was born. The Smith children have a strong musical background from song writing, producing and instrument playing. They began touring with different church groups at an early age. They eventually branched out into the secular world of music, but the Smith children maintained a strong ties to the church.

Nokio of Dru Hill gave Jimi his first beat machine, a MPC 2000XL that he still uses today. Jimi subsidized his income by working construction by day and making beats by night. His favorite musician was Jimi Hendrix, hence the name Jimi Kendrix was born. His big break came when his uncle Big Chuck told him that Jay-Z wanted one of his beats to lay the lyrics to “I did it may way” for the ‘Blue Print II’ and the rest is history. Since “I did it may way” Jimi has been busy making beats for Ja Rule, Ashanti, Lil Zane, Jay-Z, AZ, Rell, Juelz Santana, Kelly Price, all in his first two years. Jimi has also worked on the R& B singer Lloyd’s debut album as well as Ashanti, more recently “Concrete Rose”. Some of Jimi’s current songs hitting the airwaves are Ja Rule feat. Loyd in “Caught Up”, Ja Rule feat R. Kelly “Wonderful” and Shyne and Ashanti in “Jimi Choo”.