Masked rapper and supposed Premier League footballer Dide has been getting a lot of attention over the last couple of weeks as everyone tries to work out who he is, but he might just have revealed his identity with a lyric from his latest freestyle track.
Which PL Player is Masked Rapper Dide?
Social media has been abuzz recently with talk of masked rapper Dide, who claims to be a Premier League footballer. So far he's released three songs on Youtube, full of references to other pros and the game itself. His accent suggests he's a London native, so along with analysis of his lyrics, visible tattoos and the shoot location of the videos, theories abound that the man behind the mask could be either Eddie Nketiah, Bukayo Saka, Sheyi Ojo, Alex Iwobi, Ashley Young, Jacob Ramsey, Tyrone Mings or Josh Dasilva.
His tattoos and his haircut seem to have outed him.
Some serious internet sleuthing has been done to unveil Dide's real identity, and some fans seem to have found irrefutable evidence that he is in fact Sheyi Ojo. A diamond tattoo is visible on Dide's wrist in the music video for "Thrill", which matches the one Ojo has. That seems like pretty definitive proof, but in his own Youtube video descriptions, Dide is described as a Premier League footballer, and Ojo currently plays in the Championship with Cardiff City. Dide also released new freestyle track yesterday that makes references to his boot sponsor which contradict the theory that he is Sheyi Ojo.
"The sponsor come with sterling now I'm in Dubai with a brand new balance."
He claims to have a sponsor that pays him well here, and there are a couple of pretty obvious double entendres that make it clear who that sponsor is. The first is sterling, referring to the pound sterling, the currency used in England, as well as Chelsea forward Raheem Sterling. When he says "A brand new balance" he's talking about his very healthy bank balance, but it's also a reference to New Balance, who also sponsor Sterling. Ojo wears NB kits for Cardiff but doesn't have a personal deal with them. Two Premier League players who are sponsored by New Balance are Eberechi Eze of Crystal Palace and Bukayo Saka of Arsenal.
Ojo, Nketiah, Eze or Saka?
Although the tattoo does strongly suggest that Sheyi Ojo is the mysterious rapper, that New Balance lyric wouldn't make any sense coming from him. It's highly unlikely that he would brag about his club's technical sponsor and insinuate that he himself is making money out of that arrangement. One possibility is that he could have included the line to throw people off the scent, although it would be quite unusual to name drop a brand that he has no affiliation to and refer to it as his sponsor. Could it be that he has a deal worked out with NB and an announcement will come when Dide's identity is revealed? That would be some shrewd marketing from New Balance.
The BBC spoke to an AI researcher who used voice analysis technology to figure out who Dide is, and his system came to the conclusion that there's an 80%-98% chance that it is Eddie Nketiah. The Gunners forward doesn't have a New Balance deal however, nor a diamond tattoo on his wrist. Sako was one of the first names to be suggested and Eze had been mentioned in certain corners of the internet and both would fit the bill as far as the NB lyric goes, but of course the tattoo doesn't add up for them either.
There are clues pointing to each of these players, as well as factors that rule each of them out of contention. Dide's true identity will come out at some stage, whether he reveals it himself or he gets exposed somehow, and we'd be very surprised if he turns out to someone other than one of these four players.
Who do you think is the man behind the mask? Comment below.