“I’m aware that there are kids out there who have addiction issues these days because of me.”
Drugs are a recurring theme in his songs, and T-Low also speaks openly about them in interviews. In a new documentary, the rapper has now revealed how much money his addiction to cough syrup containing codeine has cost him over the years.
What Lean is all about
The current ZDF documentary “Drug Land – Province in Intoxication” is all about “problematic drug use,” as the press release says. T-Low also has his say. The 23-year-old talks about his drug addiction, especially Lean – a mixed drink consisting of soda, a sedative and cough syrup that contains codeine. In the past he has often appeared in music clips and on social media with the drug crowd.
In the ZDF interview, the musician admits that over time he has shelled out around 600,000 euros for this type of codeine addiction. According to his own statements, at times he needed the cough syrup containing codeine in such quantities every day that he lost around 450 euros every 24 hours.
The thing with the fame
Both his addiction and his attempts to get away from certain drugs were often the focus of his tracks and his social media presence. The artist is aware of his external impact. He explains to ZDF: “I’m definitely aware that there are 100 percent kids out there who are probably having addiction problems these days because of me.”
End of career for T-Low?
The musician recently made a name for himself because he announced the end of his career in a livestream at the beginning of January. Thilo Panje, as his real name is, said: “For probably a year or a year and a half, I just haven’t had any fun with music.” And further: “It feels like a job to me and, above all, like a job with a lot a lot of pressure.” He described that this feeling was partly due to the fact that he doesn’t release his music on a label, but as an independent artist. In principle, he is happy with the decision, but he sees hurdles for independent artists.
Enough money not to have to make music anymore
“I started music to earn money, to live, to have money for food,” T-low also said in the live stream. “That was a long time ago. Now I have – no flex – enough money that I don’t have to do that anymore.” In addition to his live speech, he deleted posts on his Instagram account. There is currently only one picture of him next to a Christmas tree, under which he wrote: “I’m out”. On the last slide he put advertising for his current album EVERYTHINGS PURPLE 3, which was released on December 27, 2024, just a few days before the end of his career was announced. This conclusion to a trilogy of releases reached number 14 in the German charts.
The past year was actually successful for T-Low: He has almost two million monthly listeners on Spotify; his collaboration with Paula Hartmann, “say something,” has over 17.6 million streams. However, there is still hope for fans: T-Low spoke about only saying goodbye to music “for now”. However, he did not give an outlook on this possible end to the career break.