Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji, popularly known as KSI is one of the most celebrated and well-known British internet personalities. He began creating massively watched gaming and vlog video for his YouTube channel in 2009, then in 2015 he transitioned into a career as a professional rapper, musician, and author. He started his both professional and amateur boxing training in 2018, which culminated in high-profile matches against YouTube star Logan Paul in 2018 and 2019.
As a member of the Sidemen, a community of British YouTubers that KSI co-founded, as well as an individual creator, he continues to be one of YouTube’s most noteworthy and influential men. His name, which stands for “Knowledge, Strength, and Integrity,” is derived from the name of a well-known Halo clan that KSI joined as a teenager. Watford, Hertfordshire, is where KSI was born and schooled in the UK. He went to the Berkhamsted School in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, before skipping out to concentrate on his YouTube career. He started his YouTube career while residing with his parents in Watford.
KSI created his first YouTube account in 2008, then in July 2009, he launched his current YouTube channel. He initially gained a small and modest but devoted following by posting gaming commentary videos for the FIFA series. He quickly branched out into video game series and vlog-style videos, rising to the fifth-most subscribed user on YouTube by the end of 2013. When KSI saw that he was making more money than one of his professors as his YouTube career took off and he had a moment of epiphany when he decided to drop out of high school.
He rose to become one of the most well-known celebrities in the world just in his 20s. He was so good at playing the FIFA video game that he got invited by professional FIFA footballers to play with them in order to raise money for charity. KSI had experimented in music since the beginning of his career, creating parody rap songs for his YouTube channel since 2011, but in 2015, with the release of his debut song, “Lamborghini,” on March 23, he made the shift into a professional music career. Following “Lamborghini’s” success, which peaked at number 30 on the UK Singles Chart.
KSI’s boxing career officially began in the year 2018 when he squared off in a highly publicised fight with YouTuber Joe Weller. Although KSI won the fight via technical knockout in the third round, he lauded Weller’s tenacity and used it as a springboard to issue a boxing match challenge to well-known American YouTuber Logan Paul. Later that month, Paul accepted KSI’s challenge. Millions of viewers streamed this fight between KSI and Logan Paul online, it was given the title of the largest event in YouTube history. Since then KSI has challenged multiple celebrities amassing a bigger fan following with each match.
KSI has ventured in acting in a number of films and television programs after becoming popular as a YouTuber. He played a soccer player in the YouTube comedic web series 5-A-Side in 2014. In the 2016 film Laid in America, he played a British exchange student studying in America, marking his first leading role in a non-web movie. Additionally, KSI has made several appearances in documentaries, TV shows, and web series as himself.
Over the course of his career, KSI has given support to a wide range of charity and philanthropic causes and organisations. Over the course of three games from 2016–18, KSI arranged many charity soccer matches through the Sidemen, raising more than £375,000 total. In the year 2019 KSI donated all ad money from the video “Ending it all” to organisations that support suicide prevention. KSI has also devoted the advertisement revenue from several videos to specialised charity causes. KSI expressed his honour and gratitude to be a part of the song “Stop Crying Your Heart Out” on November 10, 2020. The single’s sales revenue was donated to BBC Children in Need.
