Slang dictionary
dirty Sprite
[dur-tee sprahyt]
What does听dirty Sprite听mean?
Dirty Sprite, also known as “lean” or “purple drank,” is a slang term for a mixture of clear soda and prescription cough medicine that contains codeine and promethazine. It鈥檚 commonly referenced in hip-hop culture.
Where does dirty Sprite come from?
The practice of drinking prescription cough syrup mixed with soda originated in Houston, Texas during the late 1980s and 1990s. Atlanta-based rapper Future is credited with popularizing the term dirty Sprite in the early 2010s.
In 2011, Future released a mixtape called Dirty Sprite that glorified the recreational consumption of prescription cough syrup. Multiple songs on the album reference mixing the syrup with clear soda, such as Coke鈥檚 lemon-lime soft-drink Sprite. He followed up Dirty Sprite with his album DS2 (Dirty Sprite 2).
Dirty, in dirty Sprite, acts as spike and draws on the word鈥檚 additional use as slang for 鈥済ood.鈥� Dirty Sprite enthusiasts are known to add a grape Jolly Rancher candy to darken the mixture鈥檚 color to purple and increase its sweetness.
Examples of dirty Sprite
Who uses dirty Sprite?
Dirty Sprite is one of several slang terms used in hip-hop culture to describe a concoction of prescription cough medicine and clear soda, whose abuse has been linked to deaths. One distinction held by dirty Sprite is that it may include benzodiazepines or 鈥渂enzos鈥� like Xanax. These additives increase the drink鈥檚 potency or 鈥渄irtiness.鈥�
In 2011, Canadian rapper Drake alluded to dirty Sprite on his hit song 鈥淚鈥檓 On One.鈥� The song鈥檚 lyrics reference styrofoam cups, the preferred way of drinking dirty Sprite: 鈥淭wo white cups and I got that drink, could be purple, it could be pink, depending on how you mix that shit.鈥�
Dirty Sprite has become a buzzword used by the media when reporting on the nationwide epidemic of teenage prescription drug abuse. Reports indicate that abuse of prescription cough medicine has been on the rise since the mid-2000s.
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of dirty Sprite like most terms we define on 亚洲网紅露点, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of dirty Sprite that will help our users expand their word mastery.