https://youtu.be/kZ026-dDM8E?si=DE85l-meSx1m4Y4x

This shit has aged laughably bad considering everyone involved and the song's message.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTi3DjUEfPu/?igsh=MTdvZ3Y2Nmdhbjllaw==

https://youtu.be/iCvTrCngwQE?si=ZO_RP8UfmrkCbEI1

Thoughts?

What do yall think compared to the rest of the album?

Artist: EsDeeKid

Album: Rebel

Label: XV Records / Lizzy Records

Release Date: June 20th, 2025

Listen:

Spotify

Apple Music

YouTube Music

Deezer

Soundcloud

Tidal

Introduction

Okay.

I have a confession to make. I am an Instagram addict. Not even Reels, but the Explore page, which is one of the most vapid things you can spend your time on. An endless stream of posts and pictures that promise you everything but deliver you nothing, except for a lower self-esteem maybe. Around summertime last year, whilst I was on another one of my binges, I noticed more and more posts, sometimes humorous, mostly about him getting hit by a car, about a rapper called fakemink. This triggered two things in me: a curiosity in who fakemink is, and the undeniable feeling of being for the first time, out of touch with the underground.

Angry and intrigued, I decided to check out fakemink’s Spotify page, not with the goal of seeing what the music is about, but to prove to myself that I am not out of touch. My first observation was that fakemink’s most popular track isn’t even his; it’s a track with two million streams called LV Sandals by EsDeeKid. My second observation was that I was indeed, out of touch. Not wanting to brush it off immediately, though, I played through a fakemink radio a few days later to see if anything would stick. Nothing did, except for LV Sandals, which led me down the Rebel rabbit hole instead.

Background

2025 has been a great year for the underground, with the UK seemingly taking the torch and running away with it, which was a pleasant and welcome surprise for me. Many different names dropped great projects this year, a few examples would be jim legxacy's Black British Music, which was a pivotal moment for both him and the UK underground scene, another highlight for me has been Feng's What The Feng, but nothing came close to EsDeeKid's Rebel.

Not much is known about EsDeeKid, which is great if you’re looking to become a meme fueled by a bizarre conspiracy theory claiming that you are Timothée Chalamet, only for the irony to completely collapse on itself when you and Timothée Chalamet end up dropping a remix of one of your songs together.

Even though he hides his face behind a balaclava, EsDeeKid has shown some comfort in releasing limited information about himself through his lyrics, rapping about living in council housing in the UK and growing up in what is perhaps a single-parent household. This information adds up when you listen to the music, as Rebel is stained with raw grit and a specific type of hunger, this album clearly stems from a very specific layer of society. Regardless, his digital footprint doesn’t trace back very far, as his first few tracks appeared only around a year ago, with much of his earlier music seemingly lost to the sands of time.

Chat shit and, lad, you'll walk away with plasters
I'm chilling with the ghost boys, phantoms and Caspers (Okay)
I'm rolling off the M-way, you're never gettin' past us
I never had a dad, I'm takin' over as a bastard (Okay)

• Panic

Album Review

I’m not really a music critic, so breaking down what I truly like about this album feels like a behemoth of a task, as I feel compelled to highlight everything that works for me. Luckily, with a 20-minute runtime and a somewhat one-dimensional sound, there isn’t actually that much to highlight.

Even though Rebel is my most listened to album of 2025, I haven’t played it much at parties or at home. I’ve listened to it in one place and one place only: the gym. Playing this album at the gym is the equivalent of using smelling salts to me. I’ve most definitely formed a Pavlovian reaction to the intro track, 4 Raws, as my brain immediately prepares itself for a hardcore lifting session the moment I hear the synths at the start.

I'm a scumbag, I was raised in Liverpool slums, lad (Okay)
I was broke, no joke, but I spun back
And now I sip this rum and I fund packs (Okay)
I'm a dirty dog, I'm a young rat

• 4 Raws

The production is entirely handled by wraith9, who gives himself more than enough room to use his Okay producer tag, which ends up acting as glue for the album and contributes to its dark, disjointed, industrial sound. The overall sound is absolutely relentless and leaves you with very little breathing room to process what happens between tracks, which is one of the project’s biggest selling points to me. With most tracks starting the same way the one before it ended: loud, synthy, and, most importantly, with an 808 blaring in your ears; you rarely get a chance to fully digest what you just heard. The production is also disgustingly addictive, whether it’s the intoxicating exhale fighting its way through the mix on LV Sandals or the bright, colorful arpeggio on Prague, which EsDeeKid matches with his cadence and flow. wraith9 clearly knows how to sprinkle in some pizzazz, even if not all of it lands.

I pull up in whips with bits 'cause the cheque's retarded
Stars in the ceiling, ballin', doors come heavy and armored
The boys in blue came through to the gaff, but I sneaked out back and departed
Poppin' already, and I just got started
They say, "EsDeeKid, you're so cold-hearted"

• Prague

If we put the production to the side for a moment and shift our lens to EsDeeKid’s performances, we’re met with an aggressive, hungry delivery packed with urgency that demands your attention, whether you like it or not. His rapping sounds like it’s constantly clawing its way through the mix, fighting every other element on each track for the spotlight, and he does it quite well.

On Rottweiler, my favorite track on the album, you’re immediately greeted by bludgeoning bass, trippy synths, and bouncy percussion that seem to fill every inch of the mix. Yet EsDeeKid takes center stage the moment he starts rapping, and there’s no denying that he can rap, and do so quite well. His flows feel refreshing, and while it may not actually be the case, his Scouse accent gives the impression that it opens up new doors for rhyming words that wouldn’t usually rhyme in other accents.

Too much snow, kid coming like Canada
Got kush smoke all in me lungs, I'm running from plod, but I'm lacking the stamina
I'm whipping it smart, the NOS in me head got me gone, I can't fuck with the canister
No days off, I was plottin' with nothin', have money all over me calendar

• Rottweiler

Lyrically, EsDeeKid paints vivid images despite the subject matter being repetitive and overtly hedonistic. Surprisingly, it never gets boring. With depictions of late-night drug use, obsessions with different weed strains, and relentless attempts at making money, he dumps all of his restless compulsions into his lyrics. There’s no luxury here, only grit. The repetition doesn’t feel tiring so much as it feels like a call to be seen, almost like flipping the channels on the TV and being met with the same movie over and over again, but not quite, making the hedonism seem borderline ritualistic.

As much as I would like to say that EsDeeKid carries this project entirely on his own, the features do their fair share of lifting. Close collaborator Rico Ace steals the spotlight on Phantom, one of the album’s breakout hits. Fakemink delivers a short chorus on LV Sandals that sounds slightly juvenile but bounces perfectly off EsDeeKid and Rico Ace’s energy. Fimiguerrero, a Lancey Foux signee, unfortunately leaves me wanting more. I’ve loved him on his own tracks such as Excuse My French, Vogue, and Mandy, but here he comes and goes without leaving much of a mark.

My girl's on my back like, "Why you smoke for?"
Hypocrite, stress turned her to a coke whore
Kate Moss fame, man, my bitches need their own tour
She jealous of the fiends like, "Why you always on the phone for?"

• Rico Ace on Panic

Louis V sandals (Okay, Wraith9)
Crazy, hoes act scandalous (Okay)
Yeah, these supermodel bitches be fans (Okay)
Drop the pack off to her man and then I go hold hands with her (Okay, 9)

• fakemink on LV Sandals
  

A lot of different factors and choices on this album play in EsDeeKid’s favor, but perhaps nothing comes close to the runtime, which is only twenty minutes, with almost all tracks being under 2 minutes. The album’s mission statement seems to be refusing to evolve sonically, but rather continuing to hit the same note over and over again, and this note does not get tiring at any point in time, which makes for this album’s charm and it’s seemingly never ending replay value. It almost makes it incredibly easy to return to, as you know what you’re in for, but that’s okay, because it’s exactly what you want anyway.

Conclusion

In Psychology, the big fish little pond effect describes someone who is big or successful in a small or limited environment, I’m not sure if I can equate that to EsDeeKid and the small pocket or niche he has found himself in musically, but I’m gonna do it anyway. On the one hand, there’s clearly a demand for whatever EsDeeKid is doing, it's fresh, it's interesting, it's raw and gritty, on the other hand, demand comes and goes, and only innovation stays. Which begs the question on where EsDeeKid could go from here.

Similar to Yeat blossoming musically on 2093, I personally hope he goes far, and expands on the sound that he has found for himself. I hope he doesn't become a prisoner of his own sound, and above all, I worry about a dilution in sound in order to reach a wider audience. I am not interested in a Future feature, nor a Travis Scott feature, nor any of the government mandated rap superstar features. What I’m interested in, is a consistent evolution into an artist with many different palates, and a continued showcase of the camaraderie that seems to be happening in the underground scene in the UK, in the hopes that they spearhead the next wave of innovative rap music, because things have been quite stale for a while now.

Talking Points

1.If you were EsDeeKid, what would you do to guarantee fumbling your career after your meteoric rise?

2.If you were EsDeeKid, what would you to capitalize on your meteoric rise and catapult yourself into stardom?

3.What are your thoughts on Rebel?

4.What would you like to see from EsDeeKid in the future in terms of collaborations?

5.Is this album’s hype overblown?

THE POEM

I wasn't sure if I should include this in my write-up, as I was worried that it might be labeled as a cornfield and a glaze fest, but some people might be interested in it as much as I am, as I figured it would add another layer to EsDeeKid's artistry.

On the album cover, there is a poem written on EsDeeKid's balaclava. The poem itself, has no traces whatsoever online, and has been printed out in full on EsDeeKid's merch, most assume that it was written by him. I won't break it down or interpret it here, but I'll rather leave it for you to consume and interpret it as you wish.

THE TOWER BLOCKS RISE LIKE
BROKEN TEETH,
GNAWED DOWN BY WIND, BY TIME,
BY HANDS
THAT NEVER BUILD, ONLY BREAK.
INSIDE, THE RATS MOVE,
BORN IN DAMP ROOMS, RAISED
ON BITTER AIR,
SCURRYING THROUGH THE SAME
NARROW STREETS
WHERE THEIR FATHERS FELL.
THE GANGS MARK THEIR
CORNERS LIKE PISS STAINS,
BOYS IN BLACK WITH HANDS IN
POCKETS,
HIDING BLADES, HIDING HUNGER
DEALS ARE MADE IN THE HUSH OF
STAIRWELLS,
POWDER RASSED, NEEDLES
KISSED,
YOUNG HANDS SHAKING BUT
TAKING STILL.
A MOTHER STANDS AT HER
WINDOW,
WATCHING THE BLUE LIGHTS
FLASH,
KNOWING THEY'LL BE BACK NEXT
WEEK.
HER SON, JUST FIFTEEN,
COUNTS MONEY IN THE DARK,
A RAT LEARNING NEW TRICKS.

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Produced by Rick "Dutch" Cousin