I would say yes and no. Closures, prototypical inheritance, etc, i.e. the language basics are all are really helpful to understand and be comfortable before using redux. Also, if the OP isn't using React.js then Redux may not be appropriate.
That said, yeah, if you are using React.js you should definitely learn and use redux.
I'm a Redux maintainer. We generally recommend learning React first before trying to learn Redux, if only to minimize the number of new concepts you're dealing with at once. And yes, the more comfortable you are with actually using JS, the better you'll be at both React and Redux.
It's worth noting that Redux is not tied to React, and can be used with any UI layer (Angular, Ember, Vue, vanilla JS, etc).
That said, yeah, if you are using React.js you should definitely learn and use redux.