Moss Bluff Snow Cone Stand Goes Viral: “Purple” Snow Cone

Back in May, we talked about how Boombox Frozen Pops and Ice Cream had a very questionable topping on their ice cream. Let's be honest, it literally looked like weed was sitting on top of the ice cream. It seems that trend is popping back up with a Sno-ball place in Moss Bluff. Incredible Edibles Sno-Balls decided to do their own spin on questionable ingredients by introducing their "Orchid Cream Vanilla" snow cone. Honestly, I saw the video for a split second and instantly thought it was definitely something else and NOT an Orchid flavor. For those of you scratching your head, let me educate you on what I initially thought it was.

Depending on where you're from, it will have various names: Lean, purp, purple drank, syrup, sizzurp, Texas tea, and more. Essentially, the beverage is a little concoction that mostly started in Houston within the hip-hop culture. Typically, it's a mixture of soda (usually Sprite) and is mixed with prescription-strength cough medicine. The medicine contains codeine and promethazine. The "lean" name comes from the fact that when you drink it, you tend to lean after a few sips of it. The medicine is what gives the drink a purple color. Since the flavor of the cough syrup is so strong, you mix it to taste with various sodas or even slide a Jolly Rancher in there to sweeten it up. Of course, like most mixed drinks, that means you forget how strong this beverage actually is and that can lead to overdose. Keep in mind, this is NOT the way you should take said medicine and it is a controlled substance that you MUST have a prescription for.

The combination started back in the '60s when musicians of the Houston area would mix Robitussin with beer. As time went on, they would mix it with wine coolers instead of beer. When the 80s and 90s rolled around, up-and-coming rappers saw what the other musicians were doing, and copied it but changed from over-the-counter to codeine promethazine cough syrup. It stayed mostly popular in the Houston area until the introduction of DJ Screw.

DJ Screw released mixtapes that featured numerous mentions of "lean" such as "Smokin' and Leanin' and "Too Much Lean in My Cup". Essentially, "Lean" became the hip-hop community's LSD and Acid of the Rock and Roll world. As DJ Screw gained popularity and began to expand outside of the Houston area, his music became THE music to listen to while drinking said beverage. The Houston DJ would take other artists' songs and "screw" them by slowing them down and "chopping" them by making the songs stutter and repeat themselves. Lean consumers loved it because it helped with the entire effect of the beverage. Sadly, Screw died at age 29 from an overdose of codeine promethazine.

I can assure you that the guys and gals at Incredible Edibles Sno-Balls are not sliding "lean" into their snowcones, it's actually a creamy Orchid vanilla flavor. However, when I saw that purple color getting poured, it sure took me back to the days of riding up and down Ryan Street "Tippin on 44s".