Of all the weird theories to surface on the internet, this could be one of the strangest seen in the music world for a while, but also one of the most plausible. UK newspaper Daily Mail reports this week on a new theory regarding the true identity of the world’s most notorious street artist, Banksy , with Massive Attack founding member Robert “3D” Del Naja pointed to as the real idenity.
“The hunt for the true identity of Banksy took a new twist today after a member of Massive Attack was named as the artist by an investigator,” Daily Mail reported yesterday.
While the paper in 2008 formerly pointed to Robin Gunningham as the true identity of Banksy, with scientists analyzing and confirming that theory, investigative journalist Craig Williams now claims the artist could either be Del Naja, or a team of people led by him and linked to the band.
“Mr. Williams has plotted Banksy murals around the world and said that on at least six occasions more than a dozen appeared shortly before or after Massive Attack gigs in the same cities over the past 12 years. 3D was a graffiti artist in the 1980s and has admitted he is friends with Banksy—but the journalist's new research concludes he may be the artist himself.”
There’s some compelling evidence for the theory. For example, six Banksy murals appeared in San Francisco in 2010, just days after Massive Attack performed two shows there. The band played Toronto a week later, before murals were reported there, too, and this was replicated when they played Boston. Similar patterns were reported around tours dating back to 2003.
“Perhaps the assertion then that Banksy is just one person is wide of the mark, instead being a group who have, over the years, followed Massive Attack around and painted walls at their leisure,” the investigator told the paper. “And perhaps, at the head of such a group we have Del Naja. A multi-disciplined artist in front of one the seminal groups in recent British music history, doubling up as the planet's most revered street artist. Now that would be cool.”
Read the Daily Mail’s report for the full story, and watch the video below for Massive Attack’s “Come Near Me” while speculating on the wild possibilities.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY0TZQTwwbk]
FollowMassive Attackon Facebook | Twitter
