A History of Hip-Hop’s Obsession With Lean
An in-depth look into the past and present of rap’s favorite drug.
In June, the estate of legendary Houston producer and turntablist DJ Screw announced that his full catalog—previously available exclusively through physical tapes and unofficial YouTube uploads—would be released on streaming services. A press release touted the rollout as “a celebration of DJ Screw’s enduring legacy and the culture he built.” That legacy is deeply complicated: Screw’s innovative approach to producing and remixing not only formed part of the bedrock of Southern hip-hop, but also pop culture’s deep fascination with codeine and promethazine, the two primary components of the syrupy narcotic drink best known as lean.
More than 25 years after Screw’s death, lean might be the central ingredient in hip-hop’s opioid crisis, which is part of the broader opioid crisis currently gripping America. The aesthetics of lean are still seemingly everywhere these days: the rage rap revival of Lil Uzi Vert’s latest EP Maverick “Almost Forever,” the sharp introspection of Nino Paid, and the wide-eyed street raps of indie experimentalists like Sideshow. Even after it took the lives of icons like Pimp C and Screw himself, lean is still a drug of choice for so many rappers. It’s worth asking how lean has maintained its hold on hip-hop’s imagination, and how it’s transformed from its first references on wax in the early and mid 1990s.
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