Music news: A look at EsDeeKid’s rise from 200k to seven million in a matter of months
If you are in any way a UK rap fan, there is no doubt you’ve been seeing EsDeeKid blow up, seemingly out of nowhere.
But who is the faceless rapper, what is he all about, and why has he gone so big in a matter of months?
Music News Blitz writer Nisha Cullen takes a look at his meteoric rise through the rap ranks.
Beginnings
EsDeeKid released his first track on Soundcloud in May of 2024, a remix of Black Beatles produced by aresden.
He would release a few more tracks in the following months, but it was in February of this 2025 that he would blow up with LV Sandals, a song released with fakemink and Rico Ace.
It was in February that he surpassed 200,000 monthly listeners, cementing himself as one of the biggest in UK underground rap.
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Rebel
EsDee released his debut album, Rebel, in June 2025.
The album features some of what would become his most-streamed songs, such as “Phantom” and “4 Raws.”
The expansion of his discography is what would aid in his blowing up.
Two weeks after the release of Rebel, he would surpass 600,000 monthly Spotify listeners.
August would see him hit a million monthly listeners, and his growth has been exponential.
He is currently sitting at 6.9 million monthly listeners, averaging well over two million new listeners every month.
Just this month - November - five months after the release of Rebel, it became the second most-streamed UK rap album of the year, only to be beaten out by Central Cee.
Century
On Halloween, EsDee released his first track since his blow-up and album, “Century.”
Much different to his previous releases, he now had millions of fans anticipating this song.
In just over three weeks since the release of this track, which has been well received by fans both old and new, “Century” has amassed almost 10 million streams on Spotify.
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Appeal
It was thanks to collaborations with the likes of Fakemink and Rico Ace that brought fanbases from other rappers’ attention onto EsDee, along with the uniqueness of his sound.
His strong scouse accent makes him stand out from others in the rap scene at the moment.
The mystery behind his identity is also intriguing to rap fans. Having never shown his face, even performing on stage wearing a mask, his identity is virtually unknown to those listening.
His music speaks for itself.
His real name, his age - it’s all a mystery. All we know is that he is from Liverpool and he’s good at what he does.
Recently, on TikTok, people have been theorising that EsDee might be movie star Timothee Chalamet.
This comes from them owning very similar clothes, some of which are identical and having similar-looking eyes, which is the only feature of EsDee that we have seen.
Timothee has commented on a post about it with the shifty eyes emoji, playing along with the joke.
Future
EsDee is making waves in not just the UK, but the international rap scene as a whole.
Set to go on tour to the USA and Australia with Rico Ace in early 2026, it seems like we’re only at the beginning of one of the next big names in rap.
He’s also joined the line-up supporting Deftones in London in August of next year.
With hopefully more new music to come, I am anticipating great things to come from the mystery that is EsDeeKid.
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