Wilkins grew up in the Upper Darby neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He gained his first musical experiences in his community church, which led him to attend jazz courses at the Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts.
In 2009, as a teenager, he had the opportunity to perform the national anthem before the Philadelphia Eagles game.
Wilkins studied at the Juilliard School under Bruce Williams, Steve Wilson, and Joe Temperley.
To date, Wilkins has worked with Jason Moran, Gerald Clayton, EJ Strickland, David Weiss, Ben Wolfe, the Count Basie Orchestra (Ghost Band), Gretchen Parlato, Solange Knowles, Bob Dylan, Harish Raghavan (Calls for Action, 2019), and Wynton Marsalis. He also contributed to Michael Dease's album, Father Figure (PosiTone, 2015).
Wilkins led his own band in the late 2010s, performing his own compositions and performing at jazz clubs and venues such as The Jazz Gallery, Smoke, Jamaica Center of Arts and Smalls.[3]
In 2020, he presented the debut album Omega , which he had recorded with Micah Thomas, Daryl Johns, and Kweku.[4][5]
Wilkins is a member of a quartet with Dezron Douglas, Jonathan Blake, and The Generation Gap and the formations of Philip Dizack and Noam Wiesenberg. He also contributed to Good Vibes' first two albums KingMaker (2019) and Who are you? (2020), as well as Jonathan Blake's 2021 album, Homeward Bound (2021) and Kalia Vandever's 2022 album, Regrowth.