With artists releasing songs at a fast and furious pace it’s difficult for the average hip-hop head to keep track of it all—no matter how tapped in they are. That’s why we created The Ones, a daily post to highlight the song you need to hear curated by the Levels team. We sort through all the new songs—across all the platforms and subgenres—so you don’t have to. Thank us later.
Where did White John come from? Did he drop from the sky? Was he created in a lab? We’ll never know. Regardless, the Inglewood rapper has quickly become a must-know name on the West Coast. “Road Runnin” is only the third White John solo track to pop up on his SoundCloud page, arriving nearly six months after his breakout song “Showtime.” For someone with such little output, John is already deviating from the sound of his earlier singles, which were punchline-based, with beats that had traces of the Bay Area and Detroit as well as Los Angeles. But “Road Runnin” can’t be mistaken for anything else but some L.A. shit, with a lethargic delivery that makes every line seem carefree and lively production that will fit right behind Shoreline Mafia on the playlist of every UCLA student. Even when he’s rapping about the typical things—you know, his IG DMs are popping, and don’t invite him to your party because he will cause a commotion—it’s catchy enough that he should survive the inevitable white rapper backlash.
Check out previous Ones, and listen to new rap from White John and more on our Spotify playlist, Apple Music playlist, and SoundCloud playlist.
