Draft:Spanian

Spanian
Born	Anthony Lees 1986 (age 37–38) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Years active	2018 - present
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91m)
Spouse	Angela McColl (m. 2023)
Children	2
YouTube information
Channel	YouTube channel
Years active	2018 - present
Subscribers	938k
Total views	165.1m
Contents are in	English
Creator Awards 100,000 subscribers
Last updated: 13 December 2024
Website	spanianofficial.com

Anthony Lees (born Anthony Prada in 1986), professionally known as Spanian, is an Australian social media star and former career-criminal. Spanian grew up in the inner-city suburbs of Sydney and served a total of 13 years imprisoned for various offences. Spanian began developing a following in 2018 releasing hip-hop music, though his popularity began to surge the following year due to his raw, unfiltered content about his criminal past. Spanian stopped releasing music in the latter half of 2021, and devoted his platform solely to his content creation. He currently has over two million followers across his platforms, and is well known for his various YouTube series, including 'Hood Talks' (2020-2021), 'It's All Eats' (2022-Present), and 'Into The Hood' (2023-Present).

Early life and upbringing

Spanian grew up in various areas of Sydney, including Marrickville and Dulwich Hill, and the inner-city suburb of Glebe, however Spanian typically identifies himself as being from Woolloomooloo. Spanian grew up with criminal family members. His father, a career-criminal himself, abandoned their family shortly after he was born. When Spanian was only two months old, due to the fact his mother was a huge fan of rock band Cold Chisel, his dad assisted a family friend to steal a Ford Bronco which belonged to the band's frontman Jimmy Barnes. That car wound up being the first stolen vehicle which Spanian inhabited, as his mother placed him in the baby seat in the back. Spanian grew up being told stories of his father's criminal expertise, particularly regarding his abilities as a getaway driver.

As a result of his father's abandonment, Spanian identifies his maternal uncle as his main male role model during his upbringing. He grew up sharing a bedroom with his uncle, whom he was only seven years younger than, and commonly refers to him as his older brother. His uncle was a thief and a heroin addict. Some of Spanian's early memories of him including accompanying him to drug-deals, and riding with him in stolen cars.

In a March 2019 interview with Bull Pro Media, Spanian stated that he moved to Woolloomooloo in "about 2004", though prior to this move, he still spent the majority of his youth hanging around either Woolloomooloo or Waterloo. He attributes his closer association to those areas over his native Glebe to the fact that they had a culture more focused on money-making, rather than "getting drunk and punching on". Spanian has identified a council house on Best Street in Woolloomooloo as where he used to live.

His childhood best friend, up until he was around 11 years of age, was future professional rugby union player Laurie Weeks.

Education

Spanian initially attended Glebe High School, which is now known as Sydney Secondary College Blackwattle Bay Campus, however he was expelled. He then attended Dover Heights Boys High School in the latter half of 2001, but was expelled after only a month for terrorising his peers and teachers with a knife, for which he served a 28-day sentence in a Youth detention centre.

He went to school with Australian rapper Sky'high.

Criminal career and legal issues

Early crimes and time in juvenile justice centres

According to Spanian's autobiography, he served several stints at Cobham Youth Justice Centre in Werrington, New South Wales as a juvenile for various crimes. These crimes include having done a school siege with a knife, for which he served 28 days; a break and enter, for which he served 100 days; and a charge for ram-raiding an ATM, for which he served six months.

He recalled in a 2022 interview that the first time he received a talking-to from police was when he stabbed a classmate in year five, at age 11.

2001 School siege

In 2001, whilst attending Dover Heights Boys High School in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Spanian was making money stealing Nokia 3250 and Nokia 8850 phones from other students. When Spanian was eventually called to the principal's office and accused of having stolen another students phone, he initiated a fight with the principal and deputy principal, and got himself suspended. The day after he was suspended, on December 10th or 11th of 2001, Spanian decided to return to the school armed with a kitchen knife to find out who had snitched on him.

At first, Spanian attempted to fly under the radar and attend classes as normal, believing that most staff members would be unaware of his suspension, however, he was confronted upon entry by the teacher of his first class. He then brandished his kitchen knife and closed the classroom door before making threats to the class, demanding that the person who told on him identify themselves. All of his classmates denied having any involvement, so Spanian decided to leave, and go door-to-door across all of the adjacent classes until he found who'd done it. After trying a few other rooms, Spanian reached a class where a friend of his whom he had a rapport with was present, and the friend jokingly responded that it had been him who'd snitched. Spanian, feeling as though he had to do something in front of the other students, then grabbed the friend by the scruff of the neck and put the knife to his neck, despite knowing that he had only been joking. Moments later, an evacuation announcement was broadcasted over the school intercom system. Feeling as though he had already taken things too far, he let go of his friend, and ran out with the other students in an attempt to blend in.

The majority of students were unaware of why they were evacuating, so Spanian managed to effectively integrate himself with the crowd at first. However, down at the school's established emergency meeting point, when he went to line up with his year group, the principal yelled at him through a megaphone to drop his weapon and leave the premises, singling him out to his peers and exposing what had been happening. Again, feeling compelled to act after being 'put on show', Spanian brandished his knife and recommenced the siege. The students and faculty then dispersed, desparately seeking refuge in nearby houses. Spanian decided not to pursue anyone further, and planned to leave the area, steal a car from the neighbouring suburb of Rose Bay, New South Wales, and drive off.

As Spanian attempted to make his way to Rose Bay, he came across an ongoing physical education class from his school which was unaware of what had been going on back at the main campus. In turn, Spanian decided to recommence the siege, and began chasing the students with a baseball bat he found in a sports bag nearby. Spanian, not actually wishing to harm anyone, let everybody escape. With everyone from the school now gone, Spanian began searching for a vehicle to steal. However, one of the school's teachers had gone and enlisted the help of a group of tradesmen from a nearby building site. Before Spanian could escape, the tradesmen found him and beat him up with shovels, and placed him under citizen's arrest. He was then arrested for a myriad of charges, however, due to the fact it was his first offence, he only wound up serving a 28-day sentence.

In the aftermath of the siege, the Department of Education (New South Wales) was fined $220,000.

2003 Stabbings and accidental self-harm

In 2003, when Spanian was 17 years old, he got into a dispute with a friend of his who was from Waterloo or Redfern. Spanian then bashed the man in a carpark in Woolloomooloo, and instructed him not to return to the area. The next day, the man returned to Woolloomooloo, not realising that Spanian's demand was genuine, and again, Spanian bashed him and told him not to come back.

Three days later, the man returned again, though this time, Spanian was high on Rivotril and armed with a box-cutter. Spanian then chased the man down Harmer Street, Woolloomooloo, however, when he caught up with him and attempted to stab him, the man ducked, causing Spanian to slash open his own forearm. Paramedics arrived soon after, and Spanian went into surgery at St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney. A few days later, suffering from withdrawals during his hospital stay, Spanian removed the medical tubes he was attached to and left the premises whilst still wearing his hospital gown. He then stole a torch from a convenience store, and began searching the area for a car to rob so he could steal enough money to buy heroin.

Down in Woolloomooloo, he ran into one of his older friends who lived in the area. Spanian attempted to convince him that the doctors had allowed him to go out early, though the friend didn't believe him, and promptly drove him back up to the hospital. Back at St. Vincent's, Spanian was then alotted a security guard to watch over him. Following the incident, he was meant to attend physiotherapy sessions to regain movement in his left arm, however, he never took them, and was left without movement in the limb for around six months, suffering permanent nerve damage.

Three weeks after he was formally discharged from the hospital, also in 2003, Spanian stabbed a man and was sent to a Youth detention centre. At that time, he was charged for three different stabbings, however he beat all of the charges.

2004 Theft charge

In 2004, as an 18 year old, Spanian received his first adult sentence. He served a five-month jail term in Parklea Correctional Centre for snatching a bag outside The Star, Sydney in Pyrmont, New South Wales.

2005 False stabbing accusation and corrupt Kings Cross police

Sometime in 2005, a man was stabbed in the head and hand on Charles Street in Woolloomooloo. Senior citizens who witnessed the stabbing identified Spanian as the attacker, and Spanian was arrested soon after. The victim of the attack had been a local drug dealer who sold Rivotril tablets. He wound up serving 11 months on remand in Parklea Correctional Centre awaiting his trial. Whilst awaiting proceedings, Spanian was served a brief of evidence, which showed that the charges were solely based on the witness statements from the elderly people who witnessed the crime. Further strengthening Spanian's case was the fact that the victim told police he had been stabbed by an Indigenous man.

After around eight months, Spanian was finally visited by a legal-aid barrister, who initially attempted to persuade Spanian towards an early-guilty plea. Knowing he was not guilty, Spanian questioned the barrister as to why he would plead guilty when there was no evidence against him. The barrister responded by stating that the blood which was on his shoes had came back from testing as being a positive match with the victim. However, Spanian's shoes had never been taken for testing by police, and he had never signed over his shoes for testing like his lawyer said he had. The shoes which Spanian was arrested in were still in his possession, and were inside his cell at Parklea. The lawyer then responded by showing Spanian a photograph of the pair of shoes which had been designated as belonging to him by the Kings Cross, New South Wales police, as well as a photograph of a signed form with his signature submitting the shoes for testing. The shoes were a pair of blue Nike TNs. The shoes which he had been arrested in were white and blue Asics. Spanian then told his lawyer to pull up the photos from when he got arrested, which showed that he had been wearing the Asics he described. Spanian then asked her to check the police report which detailed his belongings from the day of his arrest. That form also stated he had been wearing white and blue Asics. The lawyer contested Spanian's claims, believing he was lying.

Spanian's lawyer then offered to go to the evidence storage area in Surry Hills, where the Nike shoes were being stored, and then come back. A week or two later, she returned to Parklea Correctional Centre to visit Spanian, this time accompanied by another barrister. The barrister started their second meeting by asking Spanian his shoe size, to which he responded that he wore a mens size 14. Spanian recalls the barristers then exchanging worried looks before recounting that the Nike shoes were womens size nine. Spanian proclaimed that this was proof of his innocence, and accused the police of blatantly framing him, however, the barristers were unenthused, and adjourned the meeting seeming unfazed by the discrepancy in the evidence.

Two or three months later, it was the first day of Spanian's trial at the Downing Centre on Castlereagh Street in Sydney's CBD. He was charged with armed robbery occasioning grievous bodily harm with intent, and faced a minimum sentence of eight years. Before the proceedings commenced, Spanian's barrister, who he identified as being a white woman named Miss Johnson, approached him and said she had good news; she had secured him a plea deal where he could receive a minimum term of three years with time served, rather than eight. Spanian emphatically refused the offer, however his barrister continued acting apprehensive about his defence, clearly not wishing to publicly accuse the police of forging Spanian's signature and faking the evidence.

Half an hour later, when the jury had already been selected and the trial was due to commence, Miss Johnson returned to Spanian with news that the victim of the case had committed suicide two days prior, and that the case was going to have to be dropped. Despite Spanian's innocence, and the fact he had spent a year on remand for this charge, the case was concluded as a 'no bill', wherein Spanian was not even granted the satisfaction of a non-guilty verdict, though he was able to go home free from the court that day. Despite how corrupt the judicial process was, Spanian was satisfied enough having been released, and didn't feel inclined to further pursue the matter.

Around a month later, a homeless drug-addicted woman approached Spanian in Woolloomooloo and made conversation with him, saying that she had seen the victim of the stabbing attack a few days prior. Spanian refuted the womans claims, informing her that the stabbing victim, a man named 'Brendan', had committed suicide, and thats how he'd secured his release. The woman remained certain in her point, further stating that 'Brendan' was still dealing Rivotril pills around the area. Two months went by, and then Spanian saw Brendan walking around Woolloomooloo. Not only had the police forged Spanian's signature, faked the evidence in his brief, kept him imprisoned unnecessarily for a year, and had his own barrister attempt to persuade him to plead guilty to the false charges, but furthermore, when they knew Spanian was going to go ahead with the trial and that he would be able to prove his evidence to the judge, they lied that the victim had died in order to protect themselves.

2006 Predatory driving charge and running over a police officer

Sometime in 2006, Spanian went to his friends from his area and asked if any of them had a 'hotty', meaning a stolen car, as he needed to go and retrieve something he had stashed elsewhere. One friend said yes, and referred him to a Hyundai Elantra which was parked at the Gilmore Project Tower at 45 Morehead Street in Redfern, New South Wales. The second Spanian drove the Hyundai out of the complex, he was swarmed by police cars which had been staking out the vehicle. A chase ensued. The cops encircled Spanian in a narrow road, blocking all exit paths with their own cars, except for one gap which was only blocked by a policeman on foot. To escape, Spanian then drove straight into the policeman, who bounced off the vehicle and landed behind him.

The chase continued down a main road, with Spanian driving into oncoming traffic to avoid the congestion on his side. A motorcyclist attempted to block Spanian's escape by stopping in the middle of the street, prompting Spanian to run him over too. He managed to momentarily get out of the sight of police, and jumped out of the car at speed across the road from the Northcott Towers Estate in Surry Hills. He then ran into the backyard of a nearby home and hid himself under a tarp, where he fell asleep. By the time he woke up, it was the middle of the night. He jumped out from under the tarp and climbed over the back fence before catching a taxi back to Woolloomooloo.

A man-hunt had since begun, as Spanian had been positively identified by Redfern police officers during the chase. Houses all over the area, including his mother's home in Ultimo, New South Wales, were raided by detectives as they tried to track him down. For the next five days, he remained on the run, with police frequently assaulting his friends whilst seeking information on his whereabouts, as well as telling them to let Spanian know that they'd kill when they found him. On the fifth day of being on the run, the police found Spanian, who at the time was high on heroin and hanging out with his friends on the street. After a brief chase on-foot, they caught up to him and bashed him on the ground, assaulting him whilst he was restrained on the ground with a brick and Mace (spray). They finally stopped attacking him and took him into custody when some girls from the area began video-recording them. Spanian was then sent to Silverwater Correctional Complex.

Due to the fact that the only evidence pinning Spanian to the car-chase was the testimony from the detective who identified him, Spanian felt confident enough to take the charges to trial. Whilst awaiting his court hearing around three months later, his court-appointed solicitor came and spoke to him in a holding cell, and asked Spanian how he was going to prove that he was an Indigenous Australian. Spanian, who is not Indigenous, responded confusedly, and the solicitor revealed that he worked for Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT), an aid program funded to provide legal support exclusively to Aboriginal Australians. The lawyer apologised for the mix-up, and said that the case would have to be adjourned for a further two weeks whilst Spanian was appointed a new lawyer. Spanian declined this offer and opted to represent himself in court.

Whilst high on Marijuana and Buprenorphine, Spanian then attempted to cross-examine the detectives who were there to testify against him, which didn't help his case. Due to the fact he never specifically stated that he didn't commit the crime, and he only focused upon attempting to discredit the officers' testimony as being insufficient, the judge found him guilty. Spanian was convicted of Predatory Driving, as well as other minor charges, and wound up only serving an 18-month sentence, which Spanian believes was the result of the judge taking pity on him.

2007/2008 Attempted murder charge

In 2007, whilst imprisoned at Junee Correctional Centre, Spanian got into a verbal dispute with a man over the phone. On the day of his release, seven months later, he camped in the bushes on Best Street, Woolloomooloo with a box cutter, and stabbed the man in the neck as he rode past on a push-bike. The victim later identified Spanian as his attacker when questioned by police. Spanian was initially charged with attempted murder, however, he took it to trial and received a hung jury. At the start of his second trial, he took a plea deal and his charge was downgraded to assault occasioning grievous bodily harm. He was then sentenced to a minimum term of 3.5 years.

2011-2012 Drug syndicate

In mid-2011, Spanian was released from jail, and intended on eliminating the violence from his criminal ways in order prioritise his money-making. When he got home, he noticed a drug-dealer around his area of Woolloomooloo selling 'gear', and began planning to rob him so he could take over the territory for himself. However, a friend who Spanian informed of the robbery scheme was able to dissuade him from doing so, and offered to partner up with Spanian and start dealing. The friend's proposal was that he would source the 'gear' and cocaine, whilst Spanian would operate their burner phone and street-deals. In turn, they would go halves on the profit.

To kickstart the business, Spanian wrote out the drug phone's number on several pieces of paper, and made up sample 'caps' using their product, which he then handed out for free to a selection of transgender people and prostitutes in the vicinity of nearby Oxford Street, informing the potential clients that he would be available from 6pm to 6am everyday. However, this method of advertisement didn't work, and he only sold one $50 'cap' in the following three days. This extinguished a lot of Spanian's morale, though he persisted, and the business soon marginally increased to the point where he was selling around five 'caps' a night. In turn, he was grossing around $250, of which $100-150 was profit, with half of the profits still being owed to his business partner.

Throughout the subsequent two months, the operation continued to gradually increase. His main clientele were transgender people and prostitutes from Kings Cross and the adjacent main road of William Street. The business was able to expand to around ten 'caps' a night. During this time, Spanian saved up as much money as he could as he wished to begin purchasing his own supply, and remove his business partner in order to increase his profits. Spanian also identified that one of the key hinderances faced by their business at the time was the fact that whilst their cocaine was good, their gear was lacklustre, and his business partner refused to seek out higher quality heroin to rectify this problem. Given the demands of the demographic they were supplying, Spanian considered their cocaine to be secondary, and their heroin to be the priority; solidifying the importance of altering their 'gear' supply to increase their popularity with the locals.

In turn, Spanian decided to stop selling cocaine entirely, and devote his focus to bettering the gear he had on offer. With the money he'd been able to save up, he went and purchased a half-ounce of expensive heroin for $6500. Aligning with his plan, the new heroin was extremely popular, and the operation began to boom. By the third month, he had scaled the operation to the point that he was grossing around $2000/night, profiting around $1000 whilst still handling the business entirely on his own. By the time he was grossing around $4000/night, he hired his first worker, who was his best friend at the time, to operate the street-sales in exchange for 20% of the profit ($10 per 'cap'). As the popularity of their heroin continued to accelerate, Spanian made enough money to be able to bring back the cocaine. It got to the point that through the single daily 12-hour shift, Spanian's runner was selling $8-9000 in drugs. As a result, his runner was pocketing around $1500/day, whilst Spanian was making about $2500. Spanian then bought his first car around this time, a Holden Commodore SV6 VE series, at an RRP of over $30,000.

However, the operation's popularity brought a lot of police heat, resulting in his runner being arrested whilst in possession of 150 caps of heroin and 100 caps of cocaine (around $12500 worth of drugs). Spanian then moved out of Woolloomooloo to an apartment near the Coca-Cola billboard in Kings Cross. As his drug business had been taking off, Spanian had also been familiarising himself with the younger generation of the 'YWB (Youngins' with bundles)' crew from his area, getting close with two of them in particular. As a result, following his friend's arrest, Spanian approached the two teenagers and offered them jobs working the shifts for him. One of them, who was about 16, accepted the offer, and Spanian gave him the night shift. However, now that he was living in Kings Cross, where much of his clientele lived, he was continuously bombarded by them as they'd figured out he was the boss of the Woolloomooloo operation. In turn, they all encouraged Spanian to begin a 6am to 6pm daytime shift.

Spanian approached the other YWB boy whom he'd gotten close to, and offered him the job, which he accepted. Resultantly, the business became a 24-hour service. The first daytime shift grossed around $2000, which was low in comparison with the nighttime shift, which was pulling in around $10,000 by that point. After a couple months went past, the 6am to 6pm shift had grown to be grossing around $5,000/day, and the 6pm to 6am shift had grown to be grossing around $12,000/night. Around six months in, between the two shifts from just one phone operating in one suburb, Spanian's operation was distributing about $17,000 of product daily, of which around $5000 was his personal profit. Spanian says his lifestyle at the time consisted of going to restaurants, staying at hotels, getting tattoos, having massages, and going to the gym. He owned a Toyota Land Cruiser GXR, a white Subaru WRX, a black Holden Commodore, a Ford FPV F6 'Typhoon', and two motorcycles including a Ducati, all whilst not having a driver's license. As a result, he would purchase the vehicles and just leave them parked in the street, taking taxicabs whenever he needed to travel.

Spanian then expanded the operation, and hired two men to work a shift in Waterloo, one of whom was grossing around $5000/day; a man to work a shift in Surry Hills, who was grossing around $4000/day; and for a period of time, a woman to work a shift in Ultimo, who was grossing around $2000/day. Despite the way in which the business expanded, the primary shift remained the original Woolloomooloo 6pm to 6am shift, regularly grossing $15-18,000 every night. Altogether, at its peak, Spanian's drug ring was distributing $25-28,000 of drugs everyday, with Spanian himself making around $8,500 daily without lifting a finger. In total, Spanian had eight employees, consisting of the two dealers in Woolloomooloo, the two dealers in Waterloo, the dealer in Surry Hills, and the dealer in Ultimo, with a Turkish man being paid $500/day to make the 'caps', and a girl being paid $400/day to count and then transport Spanian's money to him each morning. By this point, he was living in Bondi, New South Wales.

Spanian also became addicted to buying jewellery. One of his necklaces, which he had custom-made for $32000, was 132cm in length and made of 18k white gold. He also had diamonds embedded into the collar of his GANT jacket, and owned a $27000 diamond bracelet and a Breitling Navitimer. Spanian estimates that he used to walk around everyday wearing around $170-180,000 in jewellery.

Despite the success of the operation, Spanian recalls himself and his crew becoming complacent, and no longer censoring themselves when communicating about their crimes over the phone. In part, Spanian blames this oversight on the fact that, subconsciously, he felt he belonged in jail. The 10 to 11 months that he had been running the syndicate was his longest stint not incarcerated since he was about 14 years old. He says that he was so institutionalised that he no longer tried to stay out of jail, and felt as though it was natural for him to return. Spanian recalls one day where he was walking around Woolloomooloo wearing his jewellery, and saw two policemen, one of them being a younger officer, and the other being a veteran around the area who Spanian knew. The younger one went to go and approach Spanian, however, the older one stopped him, and allowed Spanian to pass by, which Spanian observes was unusual as he was normally stopped and harassed by the local cops. In the moment, Spanian didn't think much of this interaction, though in hindsight he realised that it unfolded in that manner because he was under investigation at the time.

Spanian was under investigation for six weeks. One day, he received a phone call from his drug connect, and had to go and meet him to do a transaction in the inner-western suburb of Five Dock. On the way, he stopped his taxi at the Turkish worker's house in Woolloomooloo to pick up money, and was swarmed by detectives and arrested as soon as he went back outside. The Turkish worker had been an undercover informant. He was charged with operating a criminal group, the ongoing supply of a commercial quantity of drugs, dealing with the proceeds of crime, and with three counts of recruiting minors to carry out and assist criminal activity (two of his runners were 17, and one was 16). In the police interview which the Turkish worker completed, he laid out the entire structure of the syndicate and the roles of each employee, and also told on one of the young runners from Woolloomooloo for having stabbed a man in an argument on Australia Day.

Spanian pled guilty to the charges, and was sentenced to a total term of eight years imprisonment, with a minimum of four and a half. In the sentencing, the judge factored in his diagnosis with psychopathy and deducted 10% from his time. He ended up serving around sixty months. The only other member of the syndicate who wound up being jailed was his 17-year-old worker from Woolloomooloo who had done the stabbing. He served three years.

Spanian was released in 2017 and hasn't returned to jail since.

2021 Marrickville Metro incident

In 2021, a woman verbally harassed Spanian and his then-girlfriend Angela McColl over the fact they weren't wearing masks at a mall in Marrickville despite ongoing COVID-19 regulations at the time. Later on, the same woman saw Spanian and Angela exiting a Woolworths grocery store, and jeered at them, believing that they had been refused entry. When they attempted to leave the situation, the woman allegedly called Spanian a derogatory slur which prompted Angela to go and confront her. Angela is alleged to have assaulted her. In 2022, Angela was sentenced to a six-month conditional release order, with no conviction to be recorded.

Personal life

Living situation

dulwich hill til 10

Spanian then moved to Woolloomooloo in "about 2004".

In 2006, Spanian's registered address was 38 Eveleigh Street in Redfern, New South Wales.

Following his release from jail in 2011, Spanian lived in Woolloomooloo before moving into an apartment near the Coca-Cola billboard in Kings Cross shortly afterwards.

Spanian currently lives on the corner of Liverpool Street and Elizabeth Street in the Sydney CBD at the One30 Hyde Park apartment building.

Family, heritage and personal losses

Spanian has stated that he has a half-brother and half-sister in Queensland, who are his father's children, though he hasn't spent much time with them. However, he has a younger brother in Sydney (who may also be a half-sibling) which is his mother's child, whom he is very close with.

Spanian is of Scottish, Irish, Spanish and Dutch descent. Due to the fact his father was half-Spanish, fellow inmates began calling him “Spaniard” whilst he was in juvenile detention, which later morphed into his moniker Spanian. His paternal grandfather, Francisco Prada, was born in a small town called Vilanova outside of O Barco de Valdeorras in the province of Ourense in Galicia, Spain.

Whilst Spanian was in jail in 2008, his older brother, a heroin addict, overdosed and died. Spanian has stated that he believes his brother's overdose was a suicide. Spanian was refused Prison furlough, and was not able to attend the funeral. In 2009, whilst he was locked up at Long Bay, his paternal grandmother died.

On 7 February 2018, Spanian's childhood friend Patrick Fisher fell to his death during a police chase in Redfern, New South Wales.

On 30 August 2024, Spanian's friend Raymond 'Dunka' Caldwell, also known by his social media moniker Humdinger, passed away. Humdinger had featured in two videos on Spanian's channel, with one being an eating challenge at a burger restaurant in November 2022, and the other being a tour of their shared childhood area of Glebe in May 2024.

Addiction and sobriety

Throughout his teenage years and young adulthood, Spanian was addicted to heroin and was an avid user of buprenorphine, also known as 'bupe', whilst incarcerated. His habit cost him $1500 a day. Whilst imprisoned at Junee Correctional Centre in 2007, at the age of 20 or 21, Spanian had an epiphanic moment after catching himself in the mirror of his prison cell, wherein he caught a glimpse of himself and suddenly felt disgusted. He recalls suddenly seeing himself as 'scum' and 'a junkie' for the first time. He stayed in place, looking at himself in the mirror, for an hour. Spanian immediately became sober, even quitting cigarettes, and voluntarily departed the buprenorphine program in jail, which he declares was unheard of, given the profitability of the drug as a bartering tool with other inmates. He then allowed his friends to raid his cell, and take all of the paraphernalia he had stashed, including Rivotril tablets, marijuana, valium, syringes, cigarettes and 'bupe'. As of 2024, he is 17 years sober.

Relationships and children

Spanian is known to have been in long-term relationships with two different women, both of whom he has a child with. He was with his first partner from around 2011, to sometime in 2018. When Spanian returned to prison in 2011 on drug charges, his partner at the time was pregnant with his first child. Upon his release in 2017, his son was five years old and already attending school. Since breaking up with his baby mother around a year after his release, he has only been permitted limited contact with their child.

In August 2023, Spanian married his girlfriend Angela McColl. She is of Samoan descent, and is from Fa'aala, Palauli. According to court documents filed in 2022, she is a full-time youth coach. The pair share a son.

Religion

Spanian is a Christian. In 2024, he got a head tattoo depicting a cross, with text reading 'Jesus is King'. He also held his wedding at a Cathedral.

Hip-hop career and discography

Spanian wrote his first hip-hop verse at Frank Baxter Youth Justice Centre in Kariong, New South Wales in 2001, when he was fourteen or fifteen years of age. His early writing at this time was influenced by the Gangsta rap sound of acts such as N.W.A.. Subsequently, he began venturing further into his lyricism, in what he characterises to have been in the style of Krayzie Bone from Bone Thugs-n-Harmony.

He has stated that his perspective on rap music as a whole then changed upon hearing 'Dance with the Devil' by Immortal Technique in around 2004, which prompted him to listen through more of Immortal Technique's discography. On this experience, Spanian noted that it left him with a renewed outlook on the genre, realising that "there's a really fuckin' art to it". His musical influences at the time were primarily East-Coast rappers, including the Wu-Tang Clan, KRS-One, Eminem and Mobb Deep. In 2019, he stated that his favourite rapper of all time was Passionate MC, with other favourites including Krayzie Bone, Vinnie Paz, Rhyme Asylum, and Celph Titled.

Spanian's hip-hop career began as a result of various jailhouse conversations with other inmates who heard him perform his music and encouraged him to release it when he got out. Throughout his various stints locked up, Spanian did time with fellow rappers Huskii and Spinner Lad, who both encouraged him towards rapping, though he didn't give such remarks much thought. The latter, Spinner Lad, eventually contacted Spanian again years later, sometime after Spanian was released in 2017, and further encouraged him to start making music now that he was free.

His first single, "Morbid Mosaics - RIP Brother", came out on YouTube on April 8th of 2018, with follow-up singles "Hood Life", and "SAKURABA - Murder Bars", being released shortly afterwards on June 27th and July 21st, respectively. Spanian's first collaborative track, "Head Monsters", featuring Lil Sknow, came out on August 23rd. Spanian released his final song, "The Ruckus", on September 15th 2021. All of his music was released independently under his own label.

Discography, with selected details

Artist/s	Song Title	Release Date
Spanian	Morbid Mosaics - "RIP Brother"	Released: 8 April 2018 Label: Anthony Lees
Spanian	Hood Life	Released: 27 June 2018 Label: Anthony Lees
Spanian	SAKUBARA - "Murder Bars"	Released: 21 July 2018 Label: Anthony Lees
Spanian ft. Lil Sknow	Head Monsters	Released: 23 August 2018 Label: Anthony Lees
Spanian ft. Spinner Lad	DETESTABLES	Released: 17 November 2018 Label: Anthony Lees
Spanian	CHAOS 96 Freestyle "i can't be beaten"	Released: 15 August 2019 Label: Anthony Lees
Spanian	APEX PREDATOR	Released: 22 August 2019 Label: Anthony Lees
Spanian ft. Jack Olkus	HOOD LIFE 2	Released: 25 September 2019 Label: Anthony Lees
Spanian ft. Jugada	ICONS OF SIN	Released: 25 October 2019 Label: Anthony Lees
Spanian	THE SIX	Released: 28 June 2020 Label: Anthony Lees
Spanian ft. Twisted Insane	WASTE EM	Released: 28 July 2020 Label: Anthony Lees
Spanian	BACK IT UP "Australian Drill"	Released: 20 August 2020 Label: Anthony Lees
Spanian	ILLCHAY	Released: 25 September 2020 Label: Anthony Lees
Spanian	HOOD RAMBO	Released: 22 January 2021 Label: Anthony Lees
Spanian	HOOD OOS	Released: 1 April 2021 Label: Anthony Lees
Spanian	Melvin Manhoef	Released: 6 May 2021 Label: Anthony Lees
Spanian	The Ruckus	Released: 15 September 2021 Label: Anthony Lees

Youtube career

STILL IN PROGRESS: BELOW ARE JUST NOTES ON THE INTENDED STRUCTURE OF THIS SECTION

2019 interview appearances

Whilst Spanian initially grew his following from hip-hop music, he began to gain popularity as a personality following two interview appearances he made in 2019. The first of these appearances was in a segment called 'Behind The Music' on underground YouTube journalist Clayton McBride's platform Bull Pro Media. Spanian detailed aspects of his upbringing and criminal history, as well as his opinions on rap music and his personal path to pursuing a career in the genre, whilst taking the interviewer on a brief tour throughout his home suburb of Woolloomooloo. This tour resulted in Spanian assaulting a local man who confronted him, which was later excised and went viral. In total, between the initial interview posted in March 2019, an extended version posted later in August, and other clips, the content which Bull Pro Media published with Spanian has over a million views.

The second appearance Spanian made was a lengthy interview with journalist Taha Sayed in December 2019. Throughout this interview, Spanian ventured deeper into his personal life, particularly regarding his heroin addiction, garnering around 300k views. The day after the segment was released, Spanian posted a clip from it on his personal YouTube channel, marking the first time he'd published content on his platform which wasn't music.

Hood Talks, Hood Logic & the 'Hood Oos' catchphrase

Spanian's platforms then continued to grow as he began two different video-series about his life as a criminal, one called Hood Talks, and the other called Hood Logic, with the former venturing into specific stories from his past, and the latter typically being general, instructional videos about the knowledge and strategies he'd acquired throughout his criminal career. The first 'Hood Logic' video he posted to his channel was a clip excised from his Taha Sayed interview, where he detailed his journey to sobriety, on December 8 2019. The earliest 'Hood Talk' episode still publicly available on his channel, titled 'Corrupt cops in Kings Cross', was posted on May 24 2020. Many of the segments from these two series' have been removed from his channels since being published.

In early 2021, these series began going viral on TikTok. The earliest Hood Logic video still available on Spanian's page, posted on 11 February 2021, saw him detail a strategic manoeuvre which could be used to evade an on-foot police pursuit. Around the same time, Spanian gained a lot of traction for coining the viral 'HOOD OOS' catchphrase. His controversial TikTok content was then written about in an article for The Daily Telegraph (Sydney).

Throughout 2021, Spanian formalised this content, and posted several professionally-filmed Hood Logic and Hood Talk episodes to his YouTube channel, garnering hundreds of thousands of views each, and millions in total. This included several notable uploads, such as "How To Survive A Knife Fight (Hood Logic)", as well as the "School Siege" and "My Drug Run" Hood Talks.

Spanian's 'Hood Logic' series and 'Hood Oos' catchphrase were the focus of a Friendlyjordies video posted in April 2021, titled 'Spanian: King of the Lads', which has since gained over half a million views.

Exploring different formats

Concurrently with the Hood Talk and Hood Logic series', Spanian also began experimenting with different styles of content, including a video touring his Asics shoe collection, as well as a gaming video on Fortnite. The remainder of the gaming content he posted at the time has since been deleted.

Between 5 August and 14 September 2021, Spanian hosted an exercise series on YouTube called Straight Out Training in order to promote the launch of his fitness platform LIMITLESS. The series entailed several workout routines devised by Spanian, as well as candid discussions about steroid use and genetic muscular potential.

The Search (podcast)

Between October 2021 and January 2023, Spanian hosted "The Search", a video podcast interview series. Thirty-two episodes were released before it concluded. Interviewees on the podcast spanned from childhood friends of Spanian, to Australian public figures such as rappers Barka, Chillinit, and YP of OneFour, body-builder Lee Priest, businessman Mark Bouris, and sportsman Laurie Weeks (rugby union). He also interviewed Australian career-criminals such as Jeff Morgan, Russell Manser, and Neddy Smith's right-hand man Graham 'Abo' Henry.

In addition to "The Search", Spanian has appeared on several other podcasts, including an interview with Friendlyjordies in December 2021, the "I Catch Killers" podcast with Gary Jubelin in January 2022, the "Straight Talk" podcast with Mark Bouris in August 2022, and "The Taboo Room" in April 2023.

It's All Eats

In January 2022, Spanian released a video where he attempted to eat several obscure snacks from an Asian supermarket in Chinatown, Sydney. The success of this video then saw Spanian debut a food review series on his channel called "It's All Eats" the following May. The series began with Spanian trying food from numerous restaurants and markets all across the city of Sydney, before expanding to it's first episodes outside New South Wales in June 2023 with a review of cafes in Melbourne. The series remains ongoing.

Vlog-style content

Spanian released various vlog-style videos throughout 2022 and 2023, including a video playing a boxing machine in a Timezone arcade, a video playing cricket with Australian rapper Chillinit, and a video racing vehicles at Sydney Motorsport Park. He has also made several videos oriented around his training as a kickboxer, including one with his trainer Peter Graham, and another featuring a guest appearance from UFC champion Alex Pereira.

WorldPride Controversy

On 25 February 2023, Spanian posted controversial videos on his instagram page about WorldPride which were perceived as homophobic. As a result, he was dropped by his management company, One Day Entertainment, as well by the publisher of his memoir, Hachette Book Group. He also drew criticism from Vice Asia, who had interviewed him prior to his remarks.

It's All Eats (International)

In August 2023, Spanian released the first international episode of the "It's All Eats" series, featuring street-food in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. This was followed soon after by two other episodes in Vietnam before the series moved onto Europe, with videos in Dubai, Porto, Barcelona, Paris, the Swiss Alps, Rome, Santorini, and more. In addition to Asian and European episodes, there have also been "It's All Eats" segments in Samoa and Brazil. The series has amassed tens of millions of views.

Into The Hood

On 23 August 2023, Spanian launched "Into The Hood", a video-series documenting walk-throughs of disadvantaged areas, during which he shares regional facts and news stories and often speaks to locals. The first episode covered the Northcott Housing Estate in Surry Hills. The series has been praised for the light it sheds on the reality of the residents' living conditions, however, certain Australia-based episodes have attracted criticism from some viewers who believe the series had become performative rather than informative, with locals flooding the streets and acting disorderly in order to artifically bolster the reputation of their area.

On 13 April 2024, whilst filming an episode of the series in Hobart, Spanian was arrested after his followers caused a disturbance. The charges against Spanian were subsequently dropped, however, several individuals were arrested in the video's aftermath.

In June 2024, Spanian filmed an episode of the series in a drug den in Medellin, Colombia. Whilst he filmed, the den was raided by the Colombian military and police. The video of Spanian making his escape was featured in numerous international news publications.

In conjunction with the Into The Hood series, Spanian also posts content generally related to human struggle on the whole, including a video on the "ice" epidemic in Fiji, and a walk-through of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.

Tracing My Heritage (series)

On 20 September 2024, Spanian released the first installment of a four-part series called "Tracing My Heritage", wherein he travelled to the hometowns of his four grandparents. The first video took place in Galicia, Spain, where his paternal grandfather was from, followed by videos in Haarlem, Netherlands, then Kirkcaldy, Scotland, and finally Limerick, Ireland. The series concluded on 27 October, 2024, having amassed over two million views.

Business ventures

Book

In late 2021, Spanian released his memoir The Unfiltered Hood Life, which was written with Christopher Kevin Au. The book was a success, however Spanian was later dropped by his publisher in February 2023 after making controversial comments about WorldPride.

Fitness Platform

In 2022, Spanian launched his fitness platform 'LIMITLESS'. The program costs $39AUD/month, and entails a myriad of features, including personalised workout programs and meal plans, grocery shopping lists, an exclusive mobile app, progress tracking, and email support.

Merchandise

Spanian sells various articles of clothing in the merchandise section of his website.

Spanian's Kebab

On 22 May 2024, Spanian opened his food truck 'Spanian's Kebab' in North Parramatta, which has been met with mixed reviews from customers, with controversy surrounding the type of bread used in his products, as well as the fact his menu is fixed and doesn't allow for customisation. On Google, 'Spanian's Kebab' has a respectable 3.3 star average rating based on over 400 reviews.

Spanian's Kebab has been the subject of numerous online food-critic videos, including one posted to YouTube by Sydney Roosters star Joseph Manu.

On 3 October 2024, Spanian's second kebab truck opened at 2115 Castlereagh Street in Penrith.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role
2022	Neverland	Spanian

Bibliography

• Spanian: The Unfiltered Hood Life. Hachette Australia. 1 December 2021. ISBN 978-0-7336-4813-7.