Lil Xan

Nicholas Diego Leanos (born September 6, 1996), better known as Lil Xan (/zæn/ ZANN) or simply Diego, is an American rapper, singer and songwriter of Mexican descent from Redlands, California. He is best known for his song "Betrayed", which was certified platinum by the RIAA and peaked at number 64 on the Billboard Hot 100. On April 6, 2018, Leanos released his debut studio album, Total Xanarchy. His sophomore album, Sorry I Didn't Quit, is due for release in 2020.

His stage name is derived from Xanax, the trade name of the prescription drug alprazolam.

Leanos was born on September 6, 1996, in Redlands, California, to Mexican parents. Growing up, Leanos was poor and lived in motels most of his childhood. He attended Redlands East Valley High School, but dropped out of high school in his freshman year, and spent several years at home unemployed. Leanos took a job as a street cleaner and sold drugs before he began rapping. Leanos later pursued a photography career in support of several friends who were rappers. He eventually had his camera stolen, and chose to begin rapping in lieu of investing in a new camera.

Leanos began to gain recognition through platforms such as SoundCloud and YouTube. His popularity grew after the release of the music video for his song "Betrayed" in August 2017. The song peaked at no. 64 on the Billboard Hot 100. In an interview with XXL, Leanos announced his debut album Total Xanarchy. The album includes collaborations with artists such as Diplo and Swae Lee. In December 2017, Leanos announced his Total Xanarchy tour, which sold out in five hours according to Billboard. In 2018, Leanos considered changing his stage name to Diego in order to support his anti-drug message, however he has since expressed uncertainty toward officially going through with the pseudonym change.

Leanos released his debut studio album, Total Xanarchy on April 6, 2018. Despite receiving generally negative reviews, it was a moderate commercial success, debuting at number ten on the Billboard 200. The following month in May 2018, Leanos announced the mixtape Heartbreak Soldiers which was released on July 8, 2018. In September 2018, Leanos announced he had been working on an album titled Be Safe as a tribute to Mac Miller, as these were the last words he said to Leanos before his death.

Leanos initially planned on releasing his Be Safe project in 2019, but the album entered production limbo and was ultimately never released. In November 2019, he announced his next album would be titled When September Ends and released an accompanying album cover, but this also never came to fruition. In January 2020, Leanos announced his next album would be titled Sorry I Didn't Quit, and is due for release sometime in 2020.

Leanos has listed Pharrell Williams and N.E.R.D as early influences in hip hop, with other influences including Arctic Monkeys, Cage the Elephant and Queens of the Stone Age. Leanos has also described Drake and Mac Miller as musical inspirations.

According to Pigeons & Planes, Leanos' music started off as "typical trap" and later shifted towards "a murkier, dream-like sound". The New Yorker has described Leanos as part of a "sad rap" movement.

Leanos started dating singer and actress Noah Cyrus on June 30, 2018. The couple released the collaboration "Live or Die" in August 2018. They broke up in September 2018, with both parties accusing the other of being unfaithful; Leanos also claimed that the relationship was forced by the couple's record label, Columbia. However, weeks later he appeared to walk back this claim in an interview on Open Late with Peter Rosenberg, stating "Honest to God, I would say like most of the reason the breakup happened was because of me. It was my fault. We could have still been together, but I just feel like I fucked everything up. It also put me in a darker place because I was getting slammed left and right." He went on to say that he had "nothing but love for the Cyrus family."

Leanos has been open about his former addiction to benzodiazepines (particularly Xanax) as well as opiates. He was able to overcome his Xanax problem after two years of suffering from addiction. Leanos currently speaks out against Xanax abuse and urges people to stop using the drug altogether.

In February 2019, Leanos announced that he and his then-fiancée Annie Smith were expecting a child. On April 6, Smith revealed that she had experienced a miscarriage, sharing the information about the incident via a video and photographs on Instagram.However, in a No Jumper interview weeks later, Leanos revealed he had suspicions that Smith had been faking her pregnancy; this came about after a number of the rapper's fans on social media pointed out that the couples' ultrasound photos looked identical to ones that could be found on Google. The pair eventually separated, with Leanos later claiming the relationship had been toxic and that he continued to doubt the authenticity of her pregnancy. He began dating YouTube vlogger Gabby Parsons in November 2019. Leanos stated in a comment on Parsons’ instagram, “After I had the siezures and almost died I finally woke up and realized what was most important in life and that’s god, family, and love! And I have never had a stronger connection with anyone but Gabby so yes we are talking and it’s a very healthy relationship”. Their relationship was confirmed in Parsons’ vlog when the couple happily stated “It’s public!” regarding the status and confirmation of their relationship. Since the start of their relationship, Leanos publicly appeared to be taking his sobriety and happiness more seriously that he had previously.

Albums

Mixtapes

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist