‘The offer seemed too good to be true. Six years ago, well before College Park, Georgia, native OG Maco rapped for a living, he was a freshman at Georgia State University, and at the time a pint of codeine-promethazine cough syrup usually ran $600. Somehow, though, his college roommate had obtained a free bottle from a guy in their apartment building on Atlanta’s east side. Maco hadn’t really been interested in mixing syrup and soda to make the cocktail known as “lean,” “sizzurp,” “drank,” “purp,” “barre,” or simply “syrup.” But Actavis was the sipper’s Moët—a drink with a real laid-back high that, if you drank enough without dozing off, promised a euphoric trip.
‘Fuck it, he said to himself. … (cont.)
McCRUDDEN DRINKS PURPLE DRANK/LEAN/SIZZURP
How to make lean that won’t kill you
How to make child safe lean part 1
ActRight Sizzurp (Honest) Review
BAKED BROS THC SYRUP (GRAPE)
Bezz Believe Explains Over the Counter “Legal Lean” Product
Rapper Bezz Believe Sippin Legal Lean At The Air Port
BLACK PANTHERS CONFRONT STORE OWNERS ABOUT SELLING LEGAL LEAN
A.K.A LEAN (HONEST) REVIEW
Texaz Mudd Review
Dozzze Relaxation Syrup Review
Legal Lean @SXSW 2018
What Is Legal Lean? Company Claims Safe Alternative To Real Lean
Trippie Redd: Don’t Do Lean, Please Don’t Do Lean, That Is Liquid Heroin
Lil Baby: I Spend $4000 Or $5000 A Week On Lean Addiction
Lil Baby On Quitting $20K Per Month Lean Habit After Getting On Probation (Part 3)
Three 6 Mafia featuring UGK and Project Pat-“Sippin’ On Some Syrup”
Kirko Bangz-“Drank in My Cup”
DJ Khaled featuring Drake, Rick Ross and Lil Wayne-“I’m On One”
DJ Screw-“Drank Up In My Cup”
DJ Screw-Phil Collins-In the Air Tonight
No direct lean connection, but I thought this remix was pretty awesome.
*
p.s. Hey. This weekend Steve Erickson shares some fascinating evidence re: the scene and culture and sonics that have sprung up around the underground yet trending syrup drug Lean aka sizzurp, drank, purple jelly, Texas tea, dirty Sprite, etc. So, if you’re curious, it’s an awfully interesting post. Please indulge to some degree, and please speak up to Steve in the comments however it suits you to let him know his gift is welcome. Thank you, and, of course, majority thanks to you, Steve. ** JM, Wildly understood, man. Have a great weekend. Heart stamped by Paris’s local representative. ** H, Hi. Thank you for thanking me. I go to NYC next Thursday for three weeks. Yeah, catching up would be good. I’ll be a bit occupied with rehearsals and stuff for ‘Them’ for the first while that I’m there, but then my time should be freer. Enjoy your overseas weekend. ** Chris Corhane, You lost a ‘c’ there, buddy. Thanks and thanks again. Very awesome about the awesomeness of the new ‘Them’ guys. Can’t wait to meet and interact with them. I get there on the 7th, and I’ll come to the rehearsal that afternoon/evening. Maybe you and Ish and I can meet up just before? If that’s feasible? I’ll be staying in the East Village, Avenue D. See you soon! ** Steve Erickson, Hi. First thank you again for the post! I’ve never liked Ghost very much. A bit schticky, but I’ll give it a whirl. The new Oneohtrix Point Never sounds fantastic on a first listen. Oh, maybe I can catch a Farocki or two while I’m there, cool. I’ll visit your update. Everyone, your guest-host for the weekend has also posted his monthly update of his favorite music of 2018 if you’re interested. Hereabouts. ** David Ehrenstein, Greetings, sir. Yes, I agree, obviously. Have a lovely weekend. ** Sypha, Yeah, it’s interesting that your imagination was promiscuously inputty re: abuse and killing, etc., but it wouldn’t and won’t let down the barriers when it comes to fictionalised animal abuse. And I’m sure you’re not the only one. Curious. I bet there’s an interesting reason for that, but I can’t sort it on my own. ** Dóra Grőber, Hi, Dóra! Thank you very much! I hope you like ZCR! The cold sesame noodle feast was a huge surprise because they were really great, and I never thought I would find good ones here in Paris. So that little Chinese restaurant is likely to be a new haunt. Yes, everything is now with ARTE! I don’t really know how long it will take. Maybe a couple of weeks? I’m not sure. Time to get nervous about that part. And our producer monster claims she wired the money she’s owed me for more than two months to my bank yesterday, and I hope she’s no bullshitting as usual because I have $150 in the bank and 120 euros in my wallet and I haven’t paid my rent yet and my refrigerator is empty. Sorry to whine. Great that you can work to some degree at your job. If you can pour, that’s enough, right? I usually pour first myself. So hooray for that victory! ‘Fight Club’ is really good, yeah. I blurbed it when it was first published. I think his writing got less interesting after that. Like he gradually stopped working as hard on the prose or something. Anyway, yeah, and it’s so exciting to be really inspired by a book. My week involved a lot of getting the TV script finished and battles over it. But it was good. Zac and I have had talks about the film script, and we’ll meet and go over it in detail in the next few days. I’m seeing a preview screening of Gaspar Noe’s new film tomorrow, and I’m excited to see it. And Zac and I want to do a book based on/about ‘PGL’, and I think we’ll meet with Michael Salerno, who would design and publish it, today or tomorrow. So the weekend should be good. I hope yours is as amazing as possible, and I look forward to catching up on Monday! ** Alex rose, Hi, Alex! Uh, keeping up … you mean on artful stuff in general or do you mean about visual art? Visual art is just by going to see stuff a lot and reading mags/sites like Artforum and so on, I think. Music-wise, various places but centrally The Wire and TinyMixTapes and a few other places. Film … randomly, I guess. I don’t know. I think I just relentlessly search for new things. Also, and I think you don’t do social media, and social media can be a massive headache, but, on the pos side, on Facebook I ‘subscribe’ to the pages of all kinds of sites that cover the arts, and so I see updates from them in my newsfeed, and I do get hipped to a lot of things that way, and that’s kind of main reason I go to Facebook. A piece? Whoa, hold on. Oh, shit, that’s so beautiful, Alex! I’m super honored. Amazing! I’m going to dwell on it as soon as I send this thing into the ether. Can I share? I hope so. Everyone, the incredible artist Alex Rose has a crucial blog where he posts new works of his, and I can’t recommend visiting it constantly highly enough, and currently at the top of it is a truly beautiful piece he made for me, and I suggest you use seeing it as an excuse to go peruse his blog/work in general. It’s a gift. Here. Big love to you, my friend! ** Okay. Go see what Lean is all about and see what you think and talk to Steve please. See you on Monday.
Now available in North America 
*
“Lean” sound epically Wack. Steve I trust you’re familiar with “dietary supplements” run riot in the African-American community — like the stuff Dick Gregory used to peddle.
I downloaded the new Oneohtrixpointnever album yesterday too, and I agree about its quality. I’m also very fond of (04:30) IDLER, a new album by British singer/songwriter/pianist Jamie Isaac that got released yesterday; in fact, I tried to get an assignment to review it, with no luck so far. Sampha is maybe the closest comparison, or a heterosexual Perfume Genius with a stronger Sade influence. Isaac combines a wide variety of influences, with R&B and jazz being the most prominent, but he also integrates electronics pretty subtly, as well as Bossa nova. However, when your beats are programmed, trying to recreate a jazz drummer’s swing is very difficult and Isaac’s attempts lead to something fairly interesting. I’m on his publicist’s mailing list, but the album came out on an indie label called Marathon Artists whom I’ve never heard of; at least Sampha benefited from the backing of Young Turks/XL.
steve, this is really good, i love lil wayne, i remembering hearing “a milli” in a taxi in ny years ago and i froze, i asked the driver what the fuck is this, it was thumping the seats and he was just rocking laughing, incredible music, he asked me if i wanted to smoke with him before my flight, it was so awesome i had to say no
dennis, yeah, i meant the visual arts, i guess i just need to get a regular fix on new /old /hot dead artists
i watched a talk today online by nayland blake, just him flicking through his work and talking and he’s very eloquent, i thought i gotta watch more of this stuff
its good you liked that picture dennis, nothing here but smiles, xx
I was going to include a YouTube clip of horror movie footage set to my favorite Lil Wayne song, “I Feel Like Dying,” but it’s about drugs in general and when I listened to it, I realized that only part of one verse is about codeine. The song was only released on a mixtape because he couldn’t clear the sample used in the chorus, which is a woman singing “Once the drugs run out, I feel like dying.”
Oh, 3 week stay in NYC is nice — not too short like before. Maybe I should take you (& Zac?) to Anthology. Or something more grungy — like Light Industry. maybe, our honorable critic Mr Erickson (today’s host) will join us? Will look up their schedules in any case. Good luck with everything in the mean time. Will send you my current contacts to your email after the 7th. A little too busy on my end, but excited to have you in NYC soon.
Dennis, hope you’re having a good weekend! How was the new Noe? Big congrats on Zac’s Coral Reef. I’ve only perceived the first chapter so far, Pearlescence (love the chapter titles BTW), and need to look at it again more slowly, but I love it, it’s a really dizzying experience, and the juxtapositions between image sections are splendid.
Regarding yr q last week about my new book, yeah I’ve done a lot of writing for it already, but I figured out an opening section, so now it’s in that interesting space that Didion talks about–how the first sentence of a book creates this kind of limit, and the 2nd sentence makes an even further limit–but I’m also in that space you talk about, of creating a structure yet really leaving room for improvisations. So It’s super-fun, take care, Axo
Steve Erickson, Great post! I love the explanations.
Dennis, Oh man. I’ve been savoring Zac’s Coral Reef, story by story. Love it. Amazing combinations. The pairings and rhythm create this kind of music that isn’t there. Do you have any music in mind when you write these? I was also wondering about the process too. I mean do you find the images and then write a narrative from what you find? Or do you have a narrative in mind and search for images that’ll connect? Hope you had great weekend too!
Alex Rose, a beautiful collection!
Alex Rose’s work is beautiful!
Hey as if by magic, the comments appear! Maybe now I can break my involuntary blog exile. Really hope this lasts.
@ Steve, I love this Day! Seeing all these cautionary tales of Lean issues, wow it’s a sobering watch but there’s evidently a lot of talent going into this scene. Been into DJ Screw for a while and his many acolytes, and that Phil Collins cover is a thing of greatness. I thought the Mica Levi album from a couple of years back Feeling Romantic Feeling Tropical Feeling Ill showed a big Screw influence.
I just finished Barney Farmer – Drunken Baker and I think really highly of it. Just after I finished the book I read this interview with the author where he discusses his own history of drinking, baking and yes, Beckett too. I wrore the first review of it on Goodreads and the guy thanked me via Twitter. I think the book does say something about life in England at this moment in time, it’s funny but it sure ain’t pretty.
Hey as if by magic, the comments appear! Maybe now I can break my involuntary blog exile. Really hope this lasts.
@ Steve, I love this Day! Seeing all these cautionary tales of Lean issues, wow it’s a sobering watch but there’s evidently a lot of talent going into this scene. Been into DJ Screw for a while and his many acolytes, and that Phil Collins cover is a thing of greatness. I thought the Mica Levi album from a couple of years back Feeling Romantic Feeling Tropical Feeling Ill showed a big Screw influence.
I just finished Barney Farmer – Drunken Baker and I think really highly of it. Just after I finished the book I read this interview with the author where he discusses his own history of drinking, baking and yes, Beckett too. I wrore the first review of it on Goodreads and the guy thanked me via Twitter. I think the book does say something about life in England at this moment in time, it’s funny but it sure ain’t pretty.
Been trying to comment on a few different browsers so I hope this one reaches you okay.
@ Steve, I love this Day! Seeing all these cautionary tales of Lean issues, wow it’s a sobering watch but there’s evidently a lot of talent going into this scene. Been into DJ Screw for a while and his many acolytes, and that Phil Collins cover is a thing of greatness. I thought the Mica Levi album from a couple of years back Feeling Romantic Feeling Tropical Feeling Ill showed a big Screw influence.
I just finished Barney Farmer – Drunken Baker and I think really highly of it. Just after I finished the book I read this interview with the author where he discusses his own history of drinking, baking and yes, Beckett too. I wrore the first review of it on Goodreads and the guy thanked me via Twitter. I think the book does say something about life in England at this moment in time, it’s funny but it sure ain’t pretty.
One of Levi’s film scores consisted of chopped and screwed versions of an orchestral composition she wrote and commissioned.
Nice post, Steve Erickson. Have you seen the Lil Wayne doc wherein large quantities of lean are imbibed?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTHBwQzqD9g
I’d quite like to try it just once, but I’m daft like that.
Hey Dennis, how are you?
How was your weekend? Did you get paid? I truly hope so.
I’ve got next to nothing to report, for some reason, except for some secret big news that I don’t know if I’m allowed to say yet. Tease!
And yes please, get PGL played somewhere near me as soon as you can. I’d love that!
May Monday treat you like you’ve just got out of jail after twenty years for a crime you may not have committed.
Splurging love,
Jamie
@Jamie–No, I haven’t seen that Lil Wayne doc, but I have seen an interview with Lil Wayne from 2008 where he essentially says “People tell me I have a problem with lean, and they’re probably right that I’m an addict. However, it’s very difficult and painful to quit, so it’s not so simple for me to just give up my addiction.” I think this was mentioned in the article I made the first link, but he has suffered seizures that landed him in the hospital within recent years which many have credited to the effects of lean.
Been trying to comment on a few different browsers, hope this one works.
@ Steve, I love this Day! Seeing all these cautionary tales of Lean issues, wow it’s a sobering watch but there’s evidently a lot of talent going into this scene. Been into DJ Screw for a while and his many acolytes, and that Phil Collins cover is a thing of greatness. I thought the Mica Levi album from a couple of years back Feeling Romantic Feeling Tropical Feeling Ill showed a big Screw influence.
I just finished Barney Farmer – Drunken Baker and I think really highly of it. Just after I finished the book I read this interview with the author where he discusses his own history of drinking, baking and yes, Beckett too. I wrore the first review of it on Goodreads and the guy thanked me via Twitter. I think the book does say something about life in England at this moment in time, it’s funny but it sure ain’t pretty.
I’ve been trying to comment on a few different browsers and I hope this one works.
@ Steve, I love this Day! Seeing all these cautionary tales of Lean issues, wow it’s a sobering watch but there’s evidently a lot of talent going into this scene. Been into DJ Screw for a while and his many acolytes, and that Phil Collins cover is a thing of greatness. I thought the Mica Levi album from a couple of years back Feeling Romantic Feeling Tropical Feeling Ill showed a big Screw influence.
I just finished Barney Farmer – Drunken Baker and I think really highly of it. Just after I finished the book I read this interview with the author where he discusses his own history of drinking, baking and yes, Beckett too. I wrore the first review of it on Goodreads and the guy thanked me via Twitter. I think the book does say something about life in England at this moment in time, it’s funny but it sure ain’t pretty.
The comments are being weird for me today, they seem to disappear and then tell me I’ve already commented.
Steve, “No direct lean connection, but I thought this remix was pretty awesome.” I like that. That’s so you.
You’ve inspired me. I’ve decided because of this day to get addicted to lean. I have a gallon of homemade lean sitting next to me right now that I’ve been sippin’ all weekend.
I’m kidding. I’m glad this day of yours finally came to fruition.
Dennis, That’s right, I forgot all about the animal. So will you get a new one for each performance? I forgot how you guys work that.
Yeah, I’m still debating whether or not to do the Bowie exhibition myself. I know the kids would be interested, but I don’t know that they’ll want to take time away from the relatively short stay there to take a ride out to Brooklyn. I don’t know that I do either. Also, I’d like to see it with other Bowie enthusiasts when it finally does hit the UK again, which will probably be a while.
So our rooms are booked and my leave is approved at work. We’ll be staying in Hell’s Kitchen, a couple blocks west of Penn Station. It’ll be a fun time.
Latest FaBlog: Fait Diver — Monkey Business
Steve Erickson, that was both kinda funny and very scary. I’m so glad that stuff never got near me (to my knowledge, honestly), cuz that would have been yet one more red flag for me. Fascinating, though. Damn. The idea of making fake versions is way the fuck out there.
Hellyo, D.
Hope all’s well. Thanks for ZCR! Spectacular! I watched it with some friends. Only one of them was not familiar with your work, and he loved it, so he wants to watch the rest of them immediately and get a book recommendation. I have zero idea where to tell him to start. I’ve recently wondered which book you’d recommend as a good starting point now… hmm…
Last time I wrote, it involved good medical news (finally), and a few more fixes I was planning. You asked for some clarification, and all this is interwoven, blah blah, so I’ll try to make it make sense, if it does. This’ll take a minute.
I was detoxed from Dilantin, a horrible anti-seizure drug I’ve taken for over a decade. I’ve vented about it here many times, I think. A previous attempt at detoxing from it was done too fast and made me very, very ill. This time, it was done slower, and went ok, except for side-effects. I’m familiar with detoxing from things like opiates and alcohol (the worst, by far). This was like I was some 70s TV with all the volume, brightness, color, etc… turned up to max, along with tics some people call ‘aura’ which are visual, auditory and/or interruptions in thinking that are like spacing-out, then back in, then back out… that can be either mini-seizures themselves, or warnings for a big one. Blecch.
During the last part of the detox, I was a mess. I was using this blog as a sort of nurse, cuz I could follow it, be entertained, etc… Then I’d wake up, notebook on my lap with unintelligible stuff on it that was supposed to be a comment, holding a pen like a cigarette. None of that got posted, ha. But it was comfy in a way. And I loved seeing Darius James featured somewhere in there.
I can’t say that Dilantin prevented or lessened any seizure. Cannabis does that just fine; the neurologist agrees. All I can truly thank Dilantin for is it’s most-prevalent side-effect: it wrecks your teeth. I’ve only got one proper cavity from teen years, and I’m really good with my teeth. They have turned yellow from the inside-out. Nothing hurts, yet. And tea, coffee, whiskey, red wine and smoking have certainly not helped. Sooo, I need a cleaning and such and then I’ll see what has to happen. Hopefully nothing much.
I also need glasses. I didn’t want to have an eye exam while the detox was causing weird visual stuff to happen. So, now I just need an exam and frames. Still having a problem with thinking I could need bifocals by now. Selecting reading glasses in a store is impossible for me – maybe because most stores are lit with fluorescent lights, which do vibrate and flash like a strobe, for an epileptic at least. I want to know what the doc thinks.
The Dilantin was removed so I could start taking Harvoni, which has great stats in terms of curing hep C in a few weeks. That’s the positive part. I almost can’t believe, in this political administration, that I get to do this. It’s very expensive, so hell yeah, right on that benefit bandwagon since it still exists.
Enough of that… I did want to mention that a Tom of Finland retrospective was at MOCAD, and included works by Waters, Pettibon, Mapplethorpe, and it was basically centered around Kelley’s Mobile Homestead (which is still wondrous, and very sad, to behold). I’m very familiar with TofF. Not my thing. But the boyfriend was agog, and it was very funny to watch him being agog.
There were other things… Huge recommendation for Hey Mr. Ferryman, the latest Mark Eitzel record. While it’s not exactly happy, it worked as a good nurse, too.
I’ll remember the other stuff eventually. The big news is that Natasha and long-time boyfriend Kevin are getting married! I have no memory of how to deal with a wedding, but all love to them!
That’s that. Whew.
Ben Robinson
Today, 13:32 You
I’ve been trying to comment on a few different browsers and I hope this one works.
@ Steve, I love this Day! Seeing all these cautionary tales of Lean issues, wow it’s a sobering watch but there’s evidently a lot of talent going into this scene. Been into DJ Screw for a while and his many acolytes, and that Phil Collins cover is a thing of greatness. I thought the Mica Levi album from a couple of years back Feeling Romantic Feeling Tropical Feeling Ill showed a big Screw influence.
I just finished Barney Farmer – Drunken Baker and I think really highly of it. Just after I finished the book I read this interview with the author where he discusses his own history of drinking, baking and yes, Beckett too. I wrore the first review of it on Goodreads and the guy thanked me via Twitter. I think the book does say something about life in England at this moment in time, it’s funny but it sure ain’t pretty.
harry mathews doesn’t seem real. have you read singular pleasures? it’s rough, a lightweight ditty pop-song type book, but also a pretty undeniable accomplishment in narrative build – reminded me a lot of greenaway’s THE FALLS at times…
my comment got swallowed into the nether. singular pleasures was great. stupid baby is also great, i’ll read it in full tomorrow but made a start today. you would like the new kanye west album. it’s only 24mins long if it sounds like a taste-risk to ya, but, seriously.
j
Hey Steve – Nice lean post. Thanks for putting it together. I liked the mix of reviews, how-to, testimonials, and music.
Hey Dennis – Just started reading ‘Zac’s Coral Reef’ and been loving it. That first story was a favorite when it first appeared on the blog, but it feels even sharper and wilder and funnier and effecting in this form (and/or maybe it’s just encountering it again has made me a sharper reader).
Also reading Renata Adler’s ‘Speedboat,’ finally. Are you a fan of her work?
My house is finally de-raccooned, which is a relief. Band is playing a gig next Sunday in a small art space. Mastermind Jeremy has us doing a setlist of all different tunes, much quieter and weirder, and hopefully we can pull that off. It’s only our 3rd gig ever, so switching up setlist entirely in terms of songs and mood feels a bit… daunting.
Congrats on PGL getting an American distributor. That’s really exciting. I’ll talk some film folks here and maybe there’s a way to bring it. Any sense of a rough U.S. rollout?
Although lean was associated with the music scene in Houston before hip-hop even existed, “Sippin’ On Some Syrup” is the first national hit to sing its praises (and it’s weird that the video I linked deletes references to Ecstasy and all other drugs but leaves in the word “Hydrocodone,” which might be the chemical name for codeine syrup.) UGK’s Pimp C performs the first verse on it. Unfortunately, he would wind up dying of a codeine overdose, although he had other health problems – sleep apnea, a congenital heart defect – that contributed to his passing.
At the time, MTV completely refused to play the video. I think BET and other music video channels played the version I linked. I must admit I find all the images of women going through the day outside with nipple-ended baby bottles of cough syrup amusing.
Hey Steve,
“Our mixture of herbs and nutrients promotes a state of enhanced rest and bliss. This helps the body and mind find peace.” – Legal Lean
That quote sounds like a sketch comedy bit. Really well constructed post, I had no idea people were actually producing and selling “safe” lean. I like that the guy who reviews the few that exist and of course loves all of them, those drug reviewers like Jollie Ollie were always funny to me. Plus, that in the air tonight remix is killer.
Hey Dennis,
Thanks for the Joy Williams rec! I really dug her story “Stuff”, so I picked up “The visiting privilege” and plan on reading it over the next few days. Are there any particular stories you think I should check out first?
Oh, that’s super exciting that you’re working with a channel that seems to share something fundamentally related to your artistic goals. Hopefully they get what you’re going for and don’t try and totally screw with the script as it is, although I get the impression that that’s just a part of the process when it comes to making films where people are investing significant money on it.
Thanks for the advice by the way about “head vs. wall” being growth as frustration. I think I’m starting to see where I want to go with the next story and at this point it’s just a matter of keeping at it attentively, hopefully. What are you working on now that all the ARTE materials are being looked over?
I tried one of the “legal lean” drinks a few years ago. The main ingredients in all the ones I’ve seen in NYC delis and vape shops seem to be valerian and melatonin, with lots of sugar and various herbs for flavor and of course purple coloring to make them resemble the real thing. (The one I bought was called “Purple Sizzurp.”) It made me feel tired, and after 2 hours I took a nap. But it was not exactly pleasurable, and I never felt “high.” I think they are essentially over-the-counter sleeping pills you can drink, although of course I don’t know the ingredients of every brand. I never felt any desire to drink it again or try the other brands.