The HOOD LIFE

After a decade-long string of stabbings, ram-raids, drug runs and the notorious high school siege — not to mention heroin dependency and 13 years wasted behind bars, the dude they call SPANIAN is finally focusing on remaining a free man. The now viral hip-hop star was in a vicious vortex of crime, violence, incarceration and drug addiction and heading for total annihilation when the artist within emerged — not just giving his life new meaning and purpose, but damn well saving it.

For years throughout the Sydney social housing enclaves of Redfern, Waterloo and Woolloomooloo, Spanian earned a reputation as one of the city's most flagrant crooks — armed with a box cutter in one hand and a syringe in the other – consequently serving several sentences at prisons across the state. However, while in jail, music and books became an unlikely lifeline and since being released from Bathurst Correctional Centre in 2017, with newfound purpose, Spanian has found fame and a sprawling, worldwide audience through hip-hop and his magnetic social media presence.

Whether it’s his uncompromising raps or viral Instagram and TikTok reels, he has evolved from an underground artist to a full-blown counterculture icon. Through music, he’s found an outlet for his unfiltered tales of street life, violence, the criminal justice system, prison life and the gritty underbelly of inner-city Sydney. Here, in this edited extract from his first book Spanian: The Unfiltered Hood Life, he gives us an insight into his time behind bars and life in prison.

I used to do bag snatches at the casino from the back exit on Pyrmont Street. It was only a short run from there to my Mum’s place. During the day, I’d climb into Mum’s building and down the fire