Mystery footballer admits supervisor and teammates don’t know he is masked rapper

“Nobody cared who I was until I put on the mask,” Tom Hardy’s Bane cried in The Dark Knight Returns. In rapper DIDE’s case, too many people cared.

So who is the football star living a double life? Well that’s a question he refuses to shed light on, even denying the truth when asked by family all the while keeping coaches and teammates in the dark.

Speaking to the Daily Star following the release of his latest single ‘Mental‘, the artist explained why he’s concealing his identity, how therapeutic making music has been and the “most insulting” thing football fans can say to a player.

READ MORE: Identity of mystery rapper and footballer DIDE ‘revealed as ex-Liverpool player’

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This was a video call like no other with DIDE camera very much off as we spoke, adding to the elusive brand he’s created with a team of fewer than five people. Fascination with who DIDE really is exploded from the moment he dropped ‘Thrill’ last year with seemingly half of London-raised pros thrown out in the hope one would stick.

DIDE said: “I’ve seen some crazy, crazy suggestions. I mean everyone’s entitled to their own opinions, I find it funny really, I just go along with it and as long as they’re positive comments and positive feedback then it’s all good.”

The most frequently suggested footballers range from Arsenal’s Eddie Nketiah to fellow Gooner Reiss Nelson but according to AI voice tech, the rapper’s voice matches that of Sheyi Ojo, Cardiff City’s ex-Liverpool prospect.

It turns out it’s pointless even playing the guessing game because DIDE isn’t interested in revealing all. When asked how many people actually know, he replied “probably less than five”.

DIDE continued: “Me and my team are very close-knitted, you know, we all trust each other and have a lot of passion for this and like I said we all believe in the vision, we all believe in the message behind the mask and what the brand represents.

He added: “A lot of people ask me, even family, relatives ask me and the answer’s no because this is very important and it kind of goes against the brand if a lot of people found out who’s actually behind the mask.”

Being a mask-clad professional footballer himself, DIDE joked he almost messaged Kylian Mbappé when the French mega star broke his nose during the Euro 2024 group stages. As social media erupted with cries for the 25-year-old to don a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle mask, DIDE at least has skin in the game.

He said: “I was actually gonna message him but I thought I’d leave it honestly. I understand you know everyone wants to make a joke about the mask and yeah I understand the mask is a massive part of the brand but definitely the message behind the mask is what’s the most important thing.”

Covering his face on social media and in music videos wasn’t always the plan but the sudden thought of potential backlash was enough to change DIDE’s mind and introduce an element of mystique to his artistry.

“Initially I was going to do it without the mask actually,” DIDE told the Daily Star. “But then you know what it’s like in the English media, a lot of negativity comes with doing things outside of football. People start thinking that you’re not focused on your job and that’s completely untrue and I didn’t really want to go down that avenue and I wanted it to be authentic.

“I wanted people to really listen to the music rather than listen to who’s behind the mask and that’s kind of why we’ve done it like that but we never really planned for it to take off the way that it did.

“Obviously I’m grateful for the support that’s been shown since then but yeah for sure it was definitely organic.”

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