2009–2012: Mixtapes and signing with Funk Volume On August 5, 2009, Benton released his first official mixtape titled,
Jarren Benton: The Mixtape, produced entirely by The Beatgods. On January 25, 2011, Benton released a collaboration mixtape with producer SMKA. The mixtape titled
Huffing Glue With Hasselhoff was supported by the lead single "Get a Load of Me". He soon begun to gain attention after the release of his song "Skitzo". American underground rapper
Hopsin would watch the music video, and passed it on to
Funk Volume CEO Dame Ritter. Ritter would contact Benton a few months later and then in May 2012, Hopsin and Ritter signed Benton to their Funk Volume record label. He had previously been courted by industry heavyweights such as
Erick Sermon and
No ID for major label record deals, with labels such as
Def Jam Recordings and
Interscope Records, however he chose to sign with the independent record label Funk Volume. His first project on Funk Volume, a mixtape titled
Freebasing with Kevin Bacon would be released on June 28, 2012. The mixtape featured guest appearances from
Dizzy Wright,
Rittz,
Freeway,
Gangsta Boo, Jon Connor, and
Planet VI among others.
2012–2015: ''My Grandma's Basement and Slow Motion'' In late 2012 he toured internationally with Hopsin, Dizzy Wright,
SwizZz and
DJ Hoppa for two-months, which included 54 shows in 60 days in the United States, Europe, and Australia. He explained his mindset going into his debut album saying, "This album has a different vibe. It's a lot more personal stuff so people can learn who Jarren is." He also said it will feature a more refined production sound that translates more to his ambitions of being a household name. ''My Grandma's Basement
debuted and peaked at number 152 on the Billboard
200 and number four on the Billboard''
Heatseekers Albums chart. He released music videos for multiple songs including "Go Off", "Life In the Jungle" and "We On (My Own Dick)" among others. On August 2, 2013,
R.A. the Rugged Man released the remix to his song "Underground Hitz" featuring
Hopsin and Benton. From August 1–19, 2013, Benton toured the United States on the ''Grandma's Basement Tour'', his first solo headlining tour. Then, Benton went on "The Life And Times Tour" with
Strange Music rapper
Rittz and
Atlantic Records rapper
Snow Tha Product, the tour went from October 31 to December 8, 2013. Benton also featured on Hopsin's third studio album,
Knock Madness, on the song "Who's There" with Funk Volume label mate Dizzy Wright. Benton received the most fan-votes votes, earning a spot on the 2014
XXL freshman class and was named the "People's Champ". He was the oldest rapper that had ever been selected to the list at 32. From April 9 to June 28, 2014, Benton was touring with
Tech N9ne,
Freddie Gibbs and
Krizz Kaliko on the Independent Grind Tour 2014. On January 27, 2015, Benton released his debut extended play,
Slow Motion, named after an old friend and fellow rapper who had recently died at the time. The EP debuted and peaked at number 168 on the
Billboard 200 chart. On June 23, 2017, Benton released his third studio album titled, "
The Mink Coat Killa", and supported by two singles from the album "C.R.E.A.M. 17" featuring Nick Grant being released on June 1, and "Again" featuring Aleon Craft being released on June 19, from the album. Initially, Benton stated that this project was intended to be a Wu-Tang Clan tribute project, the title of the project being a reference to his Wu-Tang name "The Mink Coat Killa."
2018–present: One Week Notice and Yuck Fou On January 5, 2018, Benton, with the record label StillMovin, released a collaboration project titled,
One Week Notice. The album was created when StillMovin label owner Damian Ritter got Benton together with
Dizzy Wright,
Audio Push,
Demrick,
Emilio Rojas, Reezy,
DJ Hoppa, and Kato to record an album in one week. On June 29, 2018, Benton and Kato released the single "Don't Need You" featuring
Hopsin and announced a collaborative album. On July 25, Benton and Kato released the single "Money Bag" featuring
Jay Park, and announced that their collaborative album,
Yuck Fou, would be released under
Roc Nation. In 2022 he released the
satirical single "Nancy" about former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
Nancy Pelosi with rapper Samson. == Personal life ==