There might be fewer people guessing who he is these days - but if EsDeeKid's only UK festival appearance this summer is anything to go by, no-one seems to care. The masked rapper took to the All Points East stage on Sunday night, reeling off his signature raw and punchy bars from on top of a castle. When EsDeeKid, who raps with a Scouse accent and only ever reveals his eyes, burst on to the scene last year everyone was convinced he was Timothée Chalamet.
But the US actor finally shot those rumours down in December by performing alongside him in a new video. Since then the noise, rumours and conspiracy theories have died down, but it hasn't slowed his rise. The rapper recently announced a 48-date tour, dubbed Council House Rat, featuring shows in Europe, the US and the UK.
BBC Newsbeat joined fans at All Points East to find out how one of the fastest-rising names in the UK underground rap scene is still managing to pull huge crowds - despite no-one knowing who he is. Festivalgoers who saw EsDeeKid's set in east London described it as "absolutely insane" with "constant energy". "We've had proof it's not Timothée Chalamet, I think he's just some guy from Liverpool and if he is, that's exactly what I rate," fan Isaac said.
EsDeeKid's video with Oscar-nominated Chalamet racked up 42 million views on TikTok - as well as dispelling the main theory about the rapper's identity. But Isaac hopes he isn't already famous and is instead "just some guy from Liverpool". "I feel like the industry really needs someone who [doesn't] really have any presence in the scene," he says.
"It's really good if it's someone who is completely anonymous, I think that would be a great thing for the underground." EsDeeKid dropped his debut album Rebel in June 2025 but it took a few months to cut through into the mainstream - first appearing at number 82 in the UK Official Albums Charts. It's since gone on to reach number eight, while also peaking at 23 on the 200 chart in the US. By the end of last year, EsDeeKid's monthly listens on Spotify had "skyrocketed", external, which Dazed said had "half of Europe rapping in his distinctive scouse accent".
Danil Boparai, a content strategy director at Dazed, thinks "the hype is justified". "He brings a very raw energy which you see with his reluctance to do much press, no-one knows much about him, it's all about the music for him," he says. "EsDeeKid has become one of the voices of Gen Z musically, through a unique take on rap due to his Scouse accent and his aesthetic taps into quite medieval-style fashion.
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