At this point it’s a well-worn path to fame: A baby-faced teen rapper with urgent energy and a homegrown mystique comes out of nowhere with a low-budget video that is impossible to ignore. The internet does the rest.

But few, if any, independent viral hits have the knotty back story of “The Race,” one of the fastest-growing songs of the moment, by the 17-year-old Texas rapper Tay-K (or Tay-K 47, born Taymor McIntyre).

Released online June 30, the same day Tay-K was apprehended by United States marshals in New Jersey after three months on the lam, “The Race” has captivated the hip-hop world with its blurring of life and art. Wanted for a capital murder charge and in connection with other violent crimes, the young rapper can be seen in the video flashing handguns and posing next to a wanted poster bearing his own face.

“I was tryna beat a case/but I ain’t beat that case,” he raps, “I did the race.”

As the tale of Tay-K recording a song about being on the run while actually on the run continues to spread on blogs and social media, “The Race” has started to enter the mainstream, debuting at No. 70 on the Billboard Hot 100 last week and reaching No. 52 this week with 13 million streams (up from 10 million the week before).