Olajide Olayinka Williams "JJ" Olatunji (born 19 June 1993), better known by his online alias KSI, is an English influencer, professional boxer, and musician. He is a co-founding member of YouTube group the Sidemen, the CEO of Misfits Boxing, and the co-owner of several businesses, including Prime Hydration and Lunchly.
Born in London to parents of Yoruba heritage and raised in Watford, KSI was privately educated at Berkhamsted School. He registered his main YouTube channel KSI—then known as KSIOlajidebt—in 2009 and built a following through his commentary videos of the FIFA video game series. His content later diversified to include vlogs and comedic skits. In 2019, he was ranked second by The Sunday Times in its list of most influential online creators in the United Kingdom. In 2021, he was listed in the Europe Entertainment category of Forbes 30 Under 30; he was later ranked by Forbes as the second-top creator of 2023. As of January 2025, he has over 44 million subscribers and 14 billion video views across his three active YouTube channels.
Creating hip-hop music as early as 2011, he first achieved commercial success with "Lamborghini" (featuring P Money) in 2015. His debut EP, Keep Up (2016), topped the UK R&B Albums Chart. He released his debut studio album, Dissimulation, in 2020, which peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart. His second studio album, All Over the Place (2021), debuted at number one and was certified platinum by the BPI; its lead singles "Don't Play" (with Anne-Marie and Digital Farm Animals) and "Holiday" both debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart and were nominated for Song of the Year at the Brit Awards. He has achieved fourteen top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, with seven peaking in the top 10. He received the Brit Billion Award in 2024, for amassing over one billion music streams in the United Kingdom. He also starred in the direct-to-video comedy film Laid in America (2016), and has been the subject of multiple documentaries, including Amazon Prime Video's In Real Life (2023).
He was involved in a white-collar boxing match against Joe Weller in February 2018. Two further boxing events against American YouTuber Logan Paul took place, the second of which was a professional bout in which he won via split decision in November 2019. In August 2022, he fought two people in the same night, defeating rapper Swarmz and professional boxer Luis Alcaraz Pineda. In 2023, he fought FaZe Temperrr in January, Joe Fournier in May, and Tommy Fury in October, which he lost via unanimous decision.
Early life
Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji was born on 19 June 1993 in London and was raised in Watford, Hertfordshire. His father, Olajide Olatunji, was born in Ibadan, Nigeria. His mother, Olayinka Olatunji (née Atinuke), is from Islington, London. He and his parents are from the Yoruba ethnic group. He was educated at Reddiford School in Pinner and Berkhamsted School in Berkhamsted, where he met future collaborator and Sidemen member Simon Minter.
KSI's younger brother, Deji Olatunji [hu], is also a YouTuber previously known as ComedyShortsGamer, and professional boxer. The brothers ranked first and second respectively as the "UK's Most Influential YouTube Creators" by Tubular Labs in 2015.
YouTube and online career
2008–2013: Beginnings and FIFA videos
KSI registered his first account on YouTube under the username "JideJunior" in 2008 while in his early teens. He registered his current YouTube account on 24 July 2009 under the name KSI Olajide BT, where he uploaded gaming–commentary videos of the FIFA video game series from his bedroom at his parents' house in Watford. "KSI" stands for Knowledge Strength Integrity, which was taken from a Halo clan.
He dropped out of sixth form college to pursue his YouTube career once he was earning steady monthly revenue from his uploads. In an interview in 2014, he recounted asking his teacher whether he should drop-out. His teacher asked how much KSI was making from YouTube, to which KSI answered, "around £1,500 a month", which was more than his teacher earned. His parents initially disapproved, but later became supportive and featured in a number of his videos. KSI later uploaded more vlog-style content and played a variety of games and in 2012, the channel reached a million subscribers.
KSI's rise to fame was not without controversy, with him being widely criticised for his self-described 'rape-face', a recurring joke on his channel during 2012 and 2013. He was the centre of a controversy following third-party allegations of sexual harassment of female staff at a Eurogamer event in 2012, that went so far as accusing him of sexually assaulting a spokesmodel Brandy Brewer, despite her tweeting that she consented to the motorboat, writing, "it's called comedy……relax". As a result, Microsoft cut ties with KSI and he was banned from Eurogamer events. KSI subsequently apologised "for any offence the video of 15 months ago may have caused in the short time it was on his YouTube channel, references to it since and subsequently used by other people" and stated his desire to move on from the incident and "be judged on the great content and value he gives to brands and partners, without controversy."
2013–present: Sidemen and expanding content
In October 2013, KSI signed with Maker Studios' sub-network, Polaris. Since 19 October 2013, KSI has been part of the British YouTube group known as the Sidemen. The group produces online videos, most often consisting of challenges, sketches and video-game commentary, as well as selling exclusive Sidemen merchandise.
In July 2014, KSI and Comedy Central UK launched KSI: Demolished, a five-episode comedy roast web series in which British comedians such as Kojo, Michelle de Swarte, Bobby Mair, and Alex Lowe, take turns to roast KSI. In August 2014, KSI was the fourth most popular personality among U.S. teenagers, according to a survey done by Variety. On 18 August 2014, KSI teamed up with Endemol for a new sports show called Rule'm Sports. In October 2014, KSI signed with MLG.tv, a streaming media service focused on gaming and esports, as part of the roster of live streamers. In September 2015, KSI was ranked 15th on Business Insider's list of "The 15 most popular YouTubers in the world". A year later in November 2016, he was ranked first on Business Insider's list of "The 19 biggest British YouTube stars".
On 4 August 2017, KSI tweeted that he would be leaving the Sidemen, citing conflicts with fellow member, Ethan Payne. Shortly thereafter, he released a number of diss track videos criticising members of his then-former group, to which most of the members responded back with their own. Later that month, KSI released a video in which he claimed that he was being deported from the United States for receiving an incorrect visa. In November 2017, KSI released a video discussing whether his supposed falling out with the Sidemen was real or fake, saying, "[the drama] wasn't entirely real but wasn't entirely fake either."
In 2019, he was ranked second by The Sunday Times in its list of the top 100 UK influencers. In 2020, The Times named KSI to be Britain's biggest influencer. In April 2021, he was listed among Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe 2021 Entertainment list. In September 2023, Forbes ranked KSI as the second top creator of 2023, earning an estimated $24 million. In July 2024, KSI appeared in a YouTube video challenge by American YouTuber MrBeast titled "50 YouTubers Fight for $1,000,000".
Music career
2015–2016: Early releases
Having written and produced comedy–rap songs for his YouTube channel in 2011, KSI released his debut single, "Lamborghini", featuring British grime MC P Money, on 23 March 2015, with Dcypha Productions. The song charted at number 30 on the UK Singles Chart, and It dropped to number 68 and number 96 over the following two weeks, before dropping out of the top 100.
"Keep Up", the title song for KSI's debut extended play of the same name, featuring Jme, was released on 13 November 2015, reaching number 45 on the UK Singles Chart. The full EP was released on 8 January 2016, through Island Records, debuting at number 13 on the UK Albums Chart and number one on the UK R&B Albums Chart.
On 29 April 2016, KSI released "Goes Off", featuring Mista Silva, as the first single from his second EP titled Jump Around. The EP's second single, "Friends with Benefits", featuring MNDM, was released on 29 July 2016, reaching number 69 on the UK Singles Chart. The full EP was released on 28 October 2016 through Island Records. One of the EP's songs, "Touch Down", featuring rapper and singer Stefflon Don, appeared on the soundtrack of the 2017 film Baywatch.
2017–2019: Independent releases
On 23 June 2017, KSI independently released "Creature", which reached number 100 on the UK Singles Chart. "Creature" was the first single from KSI's third EP, Space, which was released independently on 30 June 2017. On 6 October that year, KSI released his fourth EP, Disstracktions, which includes diss tracks against fellow Sidemen members W2S and Behzinga. The EP reached number 31 on the UK Albums Chart and number one on the UK R&B Albums Chart. One week before its release, KSI announced that the EP would be his "final release" with Island Records and that he would be releasing music independently.
On 2 February 2018, KSI released "Uncontrollable", featuring Big Zuu. The song played during KSI's ring walk for his boxing fight against Joe Weller and charted at number 89 on the UK Singles Chart. KSI released "On Point" on 17 August 2018, which was played during his ring walk for his second boxing bout.
On 12 April 2019, KSI released a collaborative album with Randolph titled New Age. It debuted at number 17 on the UK Albums Chart and at number one on the UK R&B Albums Chart.
2019–2020: New record label signing and Dissimulation
On 4 November 2019, it was announced that KSI had signed with RBC Records and BMG to "take [his] music to the next level" and "further develop his music career in the US and internationally". In addition to managing KSI's future releases, it was confirmed that the label would be administering and reissuing KSI's independent catalogue recordings. That day, it was confirmed that KSI had already started recording his debut studio album. On 8 November 2019, "Down Like That", featuring Rick Ross, Lil Baby and S-X, was released as the album's lead single. It was performed live by the three featured artists as KSI's entrance music for his boxing rematch against Logan Paul.
The song peaked at number 10 on the UK Singles Chart and it has been certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales of 200,000 units in the country. On 15 December KSI, Miniminter, TBJZL, and Zerkaa released a Christmas themed single titled "The Gift" under the Sidemen banner featuring S-X which charted at number 77 in the UK. A further three singles preceded the album: "Wake Up Call", featuring Trippie Redd, which debuted at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart; "Poppin", featuring Lil Pump and Smokepurpp, which charted at number 43 in the UK; and "Houdini", featuring Swarmz and Tion Wayne, which debuted at number six on the UK Singles Chart and received a silver certification from the BPI.
KSI's debut studio album, titled Dissimulation, was released on 22 May 2020. The album debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart and further charted in 15 other countries. It was the UK's best-selling debut album by a British artist in 2020 and it has been certified gold by the BPI for sales of 100,000 units in the country. The album spawned two further UK top 40 singles, "Cap", featuring Offset, and "Killa Killa", featuring Aiyana-Lee. KSI was scheduled to perform at Parklife, Longitude and Reading and Leeds music festivals in 2020 to promote Dissimulation, but these were later cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. KSI featured on "Lighter" by British DJ and record producer Nathan Dawe. The song peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart and became one of the UK's best-selling songs of 2020. It has been certified platinum by the BPI for sales of 600,000 units in the UK and it was nominated for Best British Single at the 2021 BRIT Awards. KSI also featured on "Loose" by Zimbabwean-British artist S1mba, which peaked at number 14 on the UK Singles Chart.
2020–present: All Over the Place and new releases
On 23 October 2020, KSI released the first single from his second album, "Really Love" featuring Craig David and Digital Farm Animals, which peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart and has been certified gold by the BPI. On 15 January 2021, KSI released the album's second single, "Don't Play" with Anne-Marie and Digital Farm Animals. The song debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart, becoming KSI's highest-charting single in the UK to date, and has been certified platinum by the BPI. On 12 March 2021, KSI released the album's third single, "Patience" featuring Yungblud and Polo G, which debuted at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart and has been certified silver by the BPI. On 26 April 2021, KSI announced via his social media the release of his second album All Over the Place, which was released on 16 July that year. It debuted at number 1 on the UK Album Charts, giving KSI his first-ever chart-topper, and has been certified gold by the BPI for surpassing 100,000 sales in the country. On 18 June 2021, KSI released the album's fourth single, "Holiday", which was only featured on the platinum edition of the album. The song debuted at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart, making it KSI's highest-charting solo single to date. On 6 August 2021, KSI released the album's fifth single, "Lose" with American rapper Lil Wayne, and was the lead single for the deluxe edition of the album, which was released on 27 August. The single peaked at number 18 on the UK Singles Chart and also debuted at number 86 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming KSI's first ever single to enter that chart.
On 6 May 2022, KSI featured on "Locked Out" by S-X. The single is S-X's third single for his debut album. "Locked Out" became S-X's first single to chart in the UK Official Charts which peaked at number 53. On 30 May, it was announced that KSI had signed with Atlantic Records and Warner Music UK "following his huge collaboration with Anne-Marie on Don't Play". On 5 August, KSI released "Not Over Yet" featuring Tom Grennan. "Not Over Yet" charted at number four on the UK Single Charts, and debuted at number one on The Official Big Top 40. The single marked the first record under Atlantic Records. A remix featuring Headie One and Nines released on 28 August and served as KSI's ring walk tune in his bout against Luis Alcaraz Pineda on 27 August. On 30 September, KSI released "Summer Is Over." On 5 December, KSI, TBJZL, and Vikkstar123 released a Christmas-themed single titled "Christmas Drillings" under the Sidemen banner featuring Jme, which charted at number 3 in the UK. On 27 January 2023, KSI released "Voices" featuring Oliver Tree. On 13 May, KSI released "Easy" with Bugzy Malone and R3HAB which served as KSI's ring walk tune in his bout against Joe Fournier on the same night.
On 31 August 2024, KSI performed a two-part concert at MF & DAZN: X Series 17, in which he previewed two unreleased singles, "Low" and "Thick of It" , featuring Trippie Redd. On 3 October, KSI released both songs as a double-single release, the latter of which was subjected to negative reception and mockery. On 19 November, KSI received BRIT Billion Award for amassing over one billion music streams in the UK. On 13 December, KSI released his third single of the year, "Dirty", which had previously been leaked in July 2024. The song received a positive reception following the negative response to "Thick of It".
On 23 January 2025, "Thick of It" was nominated for Song of the Year at The BRIT Awards 2025.
