Who is Yung Lean?

Yung Lean, whose real name is Jonatan Aron Leandoer Håstad, is a rapper from Sweden. Born on July 18, 1996, his first single to make it big is called Ginseng Strip 2002. He wrote this in 2013 at the young age of 17 and it quickly went viral on YouTube. It now has over 136,000,000 plays on Spotify. His single Kyoto has over 55,000,000 plays on Spotify and his single Red Bottom Sky has over 41,000,000. His earlier single, Ginseng Strip 2002 has recently gone viral on TikTok with over 93,000 likes and over 150,000 views. Yung Lean’s rise in popularity has brought along with it personal success and strife. 

In 2015, following the death of his close friend and manager, Yung Lean overdosed on pain medication. He spent some time in the hospital as he recovered from using xanax and cocaine to self medicate. He was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and attributes this diagnosis to some of his experiences with drug use. He moved back to Sweden with his family and enjoys reading, painting, and other crafts alongside his piano playing and songwriting.

Throughout this time he released many full albums including Unknown Memory (2014), Warlord (2016), Stranger (2017), Starz (2020), and just recently, Stardust (2022). He is also well known for his collaborations with Bladee and other successful viral rappers. He credits several well known rappers and their work as influencing his music, including 50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Tryin and Nas’s Illmatic, amongst others. He is also the vocalist in Dod Mark with Sad Boys member Gud. Yung Lean remains a popular mainstay in the world of Cloud rap and hip hop music.