Is Banksy Really 3D From Massive Attack?
By Amanda Wicks
(RADIO.COM) – A new rumor has popped up pertaining to mysterious graffiti artist Banksy's identity. Scottish journalist Craig Williams claims that Banksy is really a project helmed by trip hop group Massive Attack, and specifically that group's member Robert Del Naja aka 3D.
Along with performing as part of Massive Attack, 3D has been a graffti artist based out of Bristol, England, since 1980. The two are aware of each other at least. Banksy has cited 3D as a major influence, and 3D appears in the Banksy documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop. But wait, there's more.
Williams has found strong evidence that whenever a new Banksy piece shows up it just so happens to be in the same city as a Massive Attack show. There are many examples of this coincidence, but in August 2008, three Banksy murals appeared in New Orleans as part of Hurricane Katrina's third anniversary. 3D worked on the soundtrack for a documentary about the hurricane, Trouble the Water, and was in the city that same week for its premiere.
Williams admits that the 3D-Banksy connection might involve more people. "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," he wrote in his piece published on the site Transmission Glasgow. "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."
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