The Break Presents – Rundown Spaz

At only 17 years old, Rundown Spaz has turned hard times into a promising career seemingly overnight, but that's not exactly how it happened.

As a kid growing up in the small city of Pine Bluff, Ark., Rundown Spaz admittedly found himself in a lot of trouble at school. To alleviate the mental stress that coincided, he began writing poetry at age 10 in a notepad. After being impressed by his poems, Spaz's mother planted seeds within her son's mind that perhaps he should start rapping. Around that time, he also started listening closely to Kodak Black, the rhymer Rundown Spaz cites as his biggest inspiration.

By the time he became a teenager, his mom's suggestion began to come to fruition in the face of adversity. Rundown Spaz's troubled youth found him in the system at a juvenile detention facility in 2018. He wrote his first raps there.

In 2021, locked and loaded with plenty of material in his rhyme book, Rundown Spaz was finally able to start recording his lyrics. However, in short order, the Arkansas native found himself behind bars once again and his plans for the future had to be put on hold.

After serving two more years on charges of deadly conduct and theft of a firearm, Rundown Spaz came home in February of 2023. By the end of that month, he dropped his first project, All In, but it was his "First Day Out (Freestyle)" that garnered all the attention. After the track started raking in viral numbers by the minute on TikTok—based on tough-talking bars about his crew and opps alike—Spaz and Tha Lights Global, the record label he's signed to, knew they had something on their hands.

Within 24 hours, Spaz released the initial "First Day Out (Freestyle)" music video on YouTube, but after reaching about 3 million views, the video was removed. However, the momentum was still in his favor. In June of this year, a new version of the "First Day Out (Freestyle)" visual hit YouTube and has since been watched over 15 million times.

The Kanye West-sampled song then returned to streaming services in September along with "First Day Out (Freestyle), Pt. 2," which features a controversial verse from Ye himself. With both versions of the track spreading like wildfire to the tune of 21 million and nearly 9 million Spotify streams, respectively, many debates surfaced as to whether or not Kanye's contribution was legit or computer generated using A.I. Rundown Spaz addresses the chatter about Ye's verse in this interview.

Rundown Spaz joins The Break: Live to talk about the success of his breakthrough hit "First Day Out (Freestyle)," having Kanye West's voice on "First Day Out (Freestyle), Pt. 2," heading into 2024 working on a collab album with his brother Rundown Choppaboy and more.

Check out the full interview below.

Follow Rundown Spaz on Spotify and Instagram.

Standouts:

"First Day Out (Freestyle)"

"First Day Out (Freestyle), Pt. 2"

"Murda Twins" with Rundown Choppaboy

"Gang Member"

All In