Spanian


Anthony Lees, better known as Spanian, is an Australian social media influencer, entrepreneur, drill rapper and former criminal.

Early life

Lees grew up in Woolloomooloo, New South Wales. He had a troubled early life, developing a heroin addiction in his teenage years and serving a number of custodial sentences at Cobham Youth Justice Centre for crimes including a school siege using a knife, a break and enter, and a ramraid on an ATM. He was originally known as "Spaniard" because his father is half-Spanish; eventually his nickname was shortened to "Spanian".
As an adult, he was tried and convicted of numerous crimes including armed robbery, causing grievous bodily harm with intent and reckless wounding. His final conviction in 2011 was for operating a criminal group that dealt drugs and recruited underaged children, leading to an eight-year sentence. In all, Lees spent over twelve years in prison.

Career

After his release from Bathurst Correctional Centre in 2017, Lees embarked on a new career as a drill rapper and a YouTube content creator. His YouTube series Into the Hood, in which he travels around Australia and the world to visit neighbourhoods widely considered dangerous and crime-riddled, became "incredibly successful" and transformed him into an "eshay influencer". In 2022, Hachette published his autobiography, titled Spanian: The Unfiltered Hood Life, co-written with Christopher Kevin Au.
In May 2023, he was dropped by his label One Day Entertainment after a "series of homophobic and transphobic rants" on social media.
In March 2024, a Spanian fan event in the Brisbane suburb of Logan spun "out of control" and led to three police cars being damaged. In April, police arrested and charged Lees with "one count of instigating the commission of a simple offence" while he was filming an Into the Hood video in Bridgewater, Tasmania. The video's filming, entitled "Inside The Hoods of Hobart", led to a large turnout of locals with police alleging hooning, public order and damage to property offences took place. While the charges against Lees were eventually dropped, police charged several other people, and seized a number of vehicles. Police also alleged that three of their cars were damaged and two officers were assaulted.
In October 2024, Lees opened his first branded kebab truck on Parramatta Road, Sydney. The kebabs went "viral" on social media and now operate on a franchising model, with seven trucks operating as of July 2025. In May 2025, a Spanian's Kebabs truck in Melbourne burned down in a suspected arson attack.