The internet is an ever-moving beast, and in the last few weeks, the fame machine has gone into overdrive over a brand new kid on the block.
This artist is more than just a jumbled collection of vowels and syllables: they’re a Liverpudlian rapper who’s probably melting down your Instagram feed at the moment. They’ve had a sold-out debut at Village Underground, have performed with Skepta, have hundreds of thousands of streams – oh, and there’s a rumour going around that they’re secretly Timothée Chalamet.
What’s going on? Here’s what you need to know.
EsDeeKid hasn’t really been around all that long. He’s been on the alt-rap scene since 2024, when he released his first track, Bally, along with the grime-flavoured artist Rico Ace.
In June, he released his debut album, Rebel (which included hits like LV Sandals and Phantom), rapping about his hometown of Liverpool.
It didn’t initially do that well, but three months later it seems to have gained traction, mainly thanks to TikTok, where his punk-leaning, hip-hop influenced sound has really taken off. Rebel appeared on the Official Albums Chart Top 100 in September and has been rising ever since.
We also don’t know that much about him: he disguises his identity with a balaclava. Intriguingly, he also has hardly any social media footprint: he set up a Letterboxd account in 2024, as well as a Tumblr profile (vintage) that he’s been using since June 2024. He also set up a Bandlab profile in April 2024, which includes American rapper YoungBoy Never Broke Again and Xxxtentacion as his personal inspirations.
Which has led to some rather outlandish rumours, such as…
Is he Timothée Chalamet?
Bear with us. Last week, a rumour started to go around that Oscar-nominated Timothée Chalamet (yes, that one) might be the person behind the balaclava.
The evidence, your honour? Well, TikTok user KJ Freeman started the ball rolling with their post. “What I’m about to say is probably one of the craziest things that you hear on this app today,” they say, then dive in.
The evidence they’ve listed is as follows.
Timmy is a hiphop fan. He even had a high school alter ego called Lil Timmy Tim – and performed rap songs at school. He even has a Spotify playlist dedicated to his favourite artists, including Travis Scott.
He attended a concert for British underground hip hop artist Fakemink in London rather than, um, doing anything else. As Freeman says, “Why would he take time out of his day to go to that?”
He’s an actor, so could (maybe) believably fake a Scouse accent. “Timothée Chalamet would fake a Scouse accent and become a UK drill rapper,” Freeman says. “That’s in his DNA to do some shit like that.” Chalamet does have a history of pulling rather outrageous press stunts to promote his films (see: riding a Lime bike to the A Complete Unknown premiere).
It’s hard pivoting to a career as a musician after having been an actor. Maybe this is Timmy’s attempt to build a profile on his own terms, without all the baggage that comes with, you know, being an internationally recognised celebrity.
Naturally, the internet has taken this and run with it – even pointing out that the two both have a fondness for a certain Alexander McQueen-style branded skull scarf.
Esdeekid
It’s all in good fun, and nobody’s taking it super seriously, though there have been a couple of sleuths who have attempted to compare the eye shape of both men in a series of social media posts (the results, in case you were wondering, have been inconclusive). Neither Chalamet nor EsDeeKid have commented on the rumours so far, though, so take that how you want.
Timmy or not, EsDeeKid is currently on tour, and will be supporting Yung Lean during his November gigs. For anybody who’s curious, look here.
