Jaron Marquis: The Entrepreneur-Turned-Rapper Changing The Game
Discover how Jaron Marquis blends business savvy with lyrical skill to stand out in hip-hop. From startup success to the stage, his journey is redefining what it means to be a modern-day artist.
Jul 22, 202511.6K Shares333K Views
Jaron Marquis Garrett, known as Jaron Marquis or J. Marquis, is a creative force from Indianapolis who blends music, business, and acting. He co-founded Dreamapolis, a startup accelerator in Indianapolis, and later launched his own record label, Urban Genius Entertainment. He made a powerful return to music in 2014 with his mixtape Soul of A Genius, featuring tracks like “We All Rant” and “Just Like Water” with Lauryn Hill. He has also appeared in films such as Furious 7and Straight Outta Compton. With talent in both entertainment and entrepreneurship, Marquis stands out as a multi‑skilled innovator.
Early Life
Jaron Marquis Garrett was born on July 8, 1983, in Indianapolis, Indiana. He graduated from Arsenal Technical High School in 2001. He then earned a bachelor of arts degree with concentrations in business and pastoral sciences from Indiana State University in 2005. After that, he moved to Chicago and obtained an MBA from Benedictine University.
From the age of 12, when he made and sold jewelry, Marquis tried various entrepreneurial ideas. He started a theatrical production company at Indiana University. After graduating, he operated an indoor advertising company, started and sold a painting firm, worked in college admissions, and owned part of a telecommunications company.
Music Career
Mark Battles officially launched his music career in 2011 when he founded his independent label Fly America and released his first mixtape Good Morning America. His single “Last Night” gained national attention, placing second on MTVu and later receiving a remix from Kid Ink.
Between 2012 and 2014, he released a series of mixtapes including the Saturday Schooltrilogy, Walking Distance(featuring Kid Ink and King Los), Broken Silence(with King Los), and Black Einstein. The Walking Distancemixtape earned gold status on DatPiff after over 100,000 downloads.
Mark’s first studio album, Numb, arrived on October 2, 2015 and reached #39 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. In 2016, he released his second album Before The Deal, which debuted at #15 on the Heatseekers chart.
In May 2017, he teamed up with Tory Lanez for the joint album Day 2. That same year he began working with Coach K of Quality Control Music as his mentor and manager. Since then, he has gathered over 50 million streams across platforms and has toured regularly across the U.S.
In 2018 he released the EP Vasi Worldand followed it with a spring tour. Recent projects include the albums Paramount(2023) and Do Not Disturb(2024), the latter reaching millions of streams within its first 24 hours.
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