AustLit

'By the time he was twelve, Spanian knew he would follow his family's footsteps to become a career criminal. What followed was a decade-long string of brazen crimes and brutal violence: stabbings, ram-raids, drug runs and a notorious high school siege. 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 boxcutter in one hand, and a syringe in the other. But it all came at a damning price: in the throes of heroin addiction and thirteen years wasted behind bars, Spanian became a longstanding resident of jails across New South Wales. There, he was embroiled in racial divisions, prison politics, and a vicious vortex of self-destruction, until music and books became an unlikely lifeline. Reading and rapping became new rituals, and a glistening light at the end of the tunnel. Released from Bathurst Correctional Centre in 2017 with newfound purpose, Spanian has since found viral fame and a sprawling, worldwide audience through hip-hop and his magnetic social media presence.' (Publication summary)