I Love Lean!!!

About

I Love Lean!!! refers to a catchphrase and series of memes including image macros and TikTok videos ironically expressing an exaggerated love for lean or purple drank, a drink made of prescription-strength cough syrup containing codeine often mixed with Sprite and Jolly Ranchers. The meme, which often pairs purple characters with the phrase "I love lean," began on the apandiscord Discord server in November 2021 and spread over the following months, going viral on TikTok in February 2022 and spreading to other social media platforms. The meme is similar to the 2010 I Love Cocaine format.

Origin

On November 3rd, 2021, Discord^[18] user RareCandles#9767 posted a a photoshopped image of Carnage from Venom: Let There Be Carnage edited to look purple, with styrofoam cups full of lean edited into the bottom right corner, captioned, "I LOVE LEAN!!!" to apandiscord server (shown below), with other users spamming the image and the phrase "i love lean" that day. Prior to the post, memes about lean maintained significant popularity on the Discord^[19] server at least since August 2021.

Spread

On the same day, iFunny^[1] user Ioquat reposted the image (shown below). The post gained over 870 smiles in three months.

In the following month, the image saw continuous circulation on various Discord servers.

On January 4th, 2022, YouTuber^[2] BigShotElba posted a voiced-over version of the meme. On January 17th, Instagram^[3] user dj_bolbi2 posted a screenshot from an unknown TikTok account of a purple Springtrap from FNaF with the quote over it, gaining over 200 likes in a month (shown below, left). On January 23rd, Instagram^[4] user seaman_game posted a meme where The Man Behind the Slaughter says the phrase, which was reposted to Instagram^[5] on February 2nd by proud_woman_respecters, gaining over 1,900 likes in two weeks (shown below, right).

On February 13th, Instagram^[9] user unfriendlymemepage posted a purple Doom edit where Doomguy pulls the "Leancible" from its resting place, gaining over 13,400 views in two days (shown below).

Also on February 13th, 2022, the same user^[10] posted a Smiling Friends meme using the phrase, gaining over 5,300 likes in two days (shown below, left). On February 14th, Instagram^[11] user kanye_albania posted a Kanye Holding Notepad meme using the phrase and editing Kanye to look purple, gaining over 2,200 likes in under 24 hours (shown below, right).

TikTok

In February 2022 the meme became notably popularized on TikTok under an original sound consisting of Kankan's song "Woke Up" and under the hashtag "#ilovelean." On February 12th, 2022, TikToker^[6] @peeasspoo posted a Dragon Ball video edit showing Goku with a purple tint going Ultra Instinct captioned "ULTRA LEAN INSTINCT I LOVE LEAN!!!" gaining over 130,000 views in three days (shown below).

The original sound became popularized over the following days, inspiring over 3,100 videos in three days. On February 14th, TikToker^[7] @bonknook posted a Fortnite clip showing The Cube but purple, gaining over 751,000 views in a day (shown below, left). On the same day, TikToker^[8] @xx_filipe_fortnite_xx posted an edit showing lean Minions, gaining over 417,000 views in the same rough span of time (shown below, right).

Continued Spread

On February 15th, Instagram^[12] user whereismy2dgf posted a meme where a man yells "LEAN STORAGE" at an Elixir Storage tower from Clash of Clans, gaining over 900 likes in a week (shown below). It was reposted by Instagram^[13] user salad.snake five days later, gaining over 67,000 likes in two days.

On February 19th, YouTuber Meme Zee posted a video edit using Winnie The Pooh characters to joke about loving lean, gaining over 370,000 views in three days (shown below).

On February 18th, Instagram^[14] user shirtless_gatorade posted a version of the joking that a teapot filled with purple liquid is a "lean teapot," gaining over 28,400 likes in four days (shown below, left). On the same day, Distractify^[17] published a piece talking about the meme. On February 20th, Instagram^[15] user mrgamer42069 posted a Family Guy meme referencing lean, gaining over 4,800 likes in two days (shown below, right).

On February 21st, Instagram^[16] user bepiz.man posted a video using the format and Clash Royale footage, gaining over 116,000 views in a day (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References