KSI

KSI Olajide Olatunji	W2S Harry Lewis	Miniminter Simon Minter	Vikkstar123 Vikram Barn	Zerkaa Josh Bradley	Behzinga Ethan Payne	TBJZL Tobi Brown

KSI

KSI/Career

KSI/Gallery

Real name	Olajide Olayinka Williams Jide Junior Olatunji
Born	19 June 1993
Nicknames and aliases	JJ Jide KSIOlajideBT Baldski The Nightmare
Portrayal(s)	Folabi Babatunde Sir Theodore III Tola BlindMaster69 HelpMeGetGood Waterman ISK
Main channel	KSI
Twitter	@KSI
Facebook	@KSIOlajidebt
Website	shopksi.com
Other Media(s)	Spotify Reddit Instagram TikTok Discord Steam Snapchat
Side channel(s)	JJ Olatunji KSIClips KSIVEVO (inactive) KSIOlajidebtV2 (inactive) JideJunior (inactive)
Years active	2008 - Present
Joined YouTube	25 April 2008
Subscribers	KSI: 24.8 million JJ Olatunji: 16.4 million KSIClips: 3.18 million KSIVEVO: N/A KSIOlajidebtV2: 2.07K JideJunior: 110K
Xbox Live Gamertag(s)	KSI OlajideBT
GTA Online colour	Hot Pink (until October 2015 & in 2021) Black (after October 2015)

“	Yo, what's up. It's yo boy KSIOlajidebt.	”
	— KSI's intro.

Olajide "JJ" Olatunji (born June 19, 1993 (1993-06-19)), better known as KSIOlajideBT or simply KSI (previously stylized as K.S.I), is a British YouTuber, musician, rapper, actor and professional boxer who is a founding member of the Sidemen.

Background

KSI was born to Jide and Yinka Olatunji in June 1993. He has a younger brother, named Deji, who is also an online YouTuber. Both brothers have a peanut allergy. Deji, Jide and Yinka have featured in various videos on JJ's channel, especially in the early-2010s. JJ and Deji also have a notable uncle and a maternal grandfather who passed away before JJ was born. JJ and his family have all said that he was a shy person as a child and an introvert. JJ was raised in Watford and has a yellow belt in karate.

He attended Berkhamsted School, a private/independent school in Hertfordshire. When he was in Year 8, he met Simon Minter (Miniminter) and the two became best friends after a brief period of rivalry. JJ has been a lifelong supporter of Arsenal F.C. and in 2022 he signed a sponsorship deal with them through his Prime company. He lost his virginity at the age of 19.

Career

Main article: KSI/Career

YouTube

JJ created his first YouTube channel called JideJunior in April 2008 as part of a school project he was assigned at the age of 14. He uploaded his first video called "LOOKING THROUGH SPACE" which he made with an old school friend called Patrick. He proceeded to post more videos to the channel and it became an infrequent hobby. He began uploading a couple FIFA and rap videos onto the channel, before posting his final video in March 2009. He then abandoned the JideJunior channel.

KSIOlajidebt Vlog's - The History of my Name

On 24 July 2009, he created his official YouTube channel as "KSI". It was essentially a continuation of his JideJunior hobby and he mainly uploaded gaming videos (primarily FIFA and Modern Warfare 2). On 15 August 2011, he released his first vlog titled "The History of my Name", revealing his face to the public for the first time. He lost subscribers and experienced extensive racism with many subscribers assuming he was white. JJ believes this was because of his "posh private school voice". However he took this in stride and started to make more comedic videos and real-life sketches and skits. JJ called his fanbase the "KSI Army". This name was popular during his first peak in popularity from 2009 to 2011 but significantly decreased in usage since then.

On 26 January 2011, JJ made his second YouTube channel called "KSIOlajideBT". The purpose of the channel was to solely upload gaming videos (with the intention of making the KSI channel a vlogging channel). His two main YouTube channels have evolved significantly since 2011 in terms of the content that has been posted to each. Around 2014, he made multiple videos for the sporting company Rule'm Sports, where he'd take part in various challenges and activities with other YouTubers and celebrities.

Until 2013, KSI was good friends with fellow YouTuber GudjonDaniel. The two created a lot of videos together on both of their channels, KSI even created Daniel's YouTube channel on 9 April 2010. The two drifted apart after KSI realised Daniel was simply using him to promote his own channel. In a KickTV interview with Daniel, the interviewers asked him if he plays FIFA with KSI. He replied with "Who the f*** is that?". The two stopped collaborating and Daniel ended up getting a lot of hate for many years until he quit YouTube a few years later. In early 2018, the 2 YouTubers tweeted a picture of themselves together announcing that their rivalry had officially ended.

During the early years of his YouTube career, JJ faced controversies such as sexual harassment after he "motor-boated" Brandy Brewer at Eurogamer in 2012, and his infamous "rape face", which he has since addressed and profusely regretted showing.

The Sidemen

JJ with the rest of the Sidemen.

JJ was one of the founding members of the Sidemen. At the time of their formation in October 2013, he was by far the most established and well-known YouTuber in the friend group, as well as one of the most famous YouTubers in the United Kingdom. He was best known for his "Get Hyper" and "Heskey Time" videos, both of which were popular in British schools at the time. JJ's popularity increased in parallel to the Sidemen's popularity.

In February 2014, he moved into the first Sidemen House with Miniminter, Zerkaa and Vikkstar123. This allowed them to be more collaborative and post more frequent real-life "challenge" videos as a group. Despite being an integral part of the formation of the group, JJ's participation in Grand Theft Auto V videos waned during 2014 and 2015 as he began focusing on other ventures like his musical career. His most viewed collaborative video made with The Sidemen is the "CROSSBAR CHALLENGE", which was posted in July 2014. He also made collaborations with a lot of other famous British YouTubers at the time such as Caspar Lee, Joe Sugg, Calfreezy and Callux. JJ has always been the most subscribed Sidemen member on YouTube and by far the most well-known.

In 2016, the four Sidemen members moved into the second Sidemen House - a mansion on a private estate just outside of London. In early-2019, he moved out of the Sidemen House and into a shared flat with Miniminter in London. They lived here until early-2022.

Establishment

In the mid-2010s, JJ's career continued to skyrocket and he was one of the first YouTuber's to cross over into mainstream media. He made his first appearance on British television in 2013 with an appearance on The Gadget Show in 2013. JJ was the online face of the BBC's Sport Relief campaign in 2014. This was followed by appearances on Friday Download and Backchat, presented by Jack Whitehall. In addition to these early television appearances, JJ started interviewing movie stars on his YouTube channel, including Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Matt Damon and Ryan Reynolds. He hosted a series broadcast on his channel in 2016 titled Pass the Pad, in which he played computer games with celebrities including Tinie Tempah, Jamie Oliver and Rio Ferdinand. In late-2015, JJ published a book called KSI: I Am a Bellend. The book provided an insight into his life up until that point.

JJ had a well-publicised relationship with Seana Cuthbert from 2012 to 2014, with the two making several videos together in the early years of his channel. Seana continued to be brought up in Sidemen videos in the following years, and she was mentioned in W2S's first diss-track during the "Sidemen Beef" in 2017.

JJ got involved in the "YouTube Drama" craze and notably clashed with PewDiePie in 2016. The two expressed disagreements about the way the "drama" was changing the YouTube platform for better or for worse. The two exchanged insulting tweets for a short period of time with JJ insulting PewDiePie's girlfriend at one stage. Despite their hostility via Twitter, JJ and PewDiePie since admitted in their videos that they respect each other, with JJ saying "we're both good YouTubers, if anything there's a level of respect there", and PewDiePie saying, "He's a level headed dude and I do respect him".

JJ was the first British YouTuber to receive a Diamond Play Button award from YouTube in mid-2016.

2017

Evolving

In early-2017, JJ "blacked-out" all his social media accounts. He posted a series of since-deleted tweets where he explained that he had come to dislike his "fame" and the special privileges he knows he gets on the grounds of being a "celebrity". He also tweeted a quote by Charles Darwin that says: "We stopped looking for monsters under our bed when we realised that they were inside us."

JJ didn't post anything to YouTube or social media from February to June 2017. This period in his career has come to be known as his "evolving phase". In an interview with DramaAlert in February 2017, JJ said he did all of this so he could "evaluate himself as a person" and stated that he that he "doesn't care about the fame or money" and that he wants to "cleanse himself" as a human. During this 5-month period, he lost over 2 billion views by privatising more than 1000 of his videos.

Despite not posting anything to his personal profiles, JJ was occasionally seen in Sidemen videos and also participated in their charity football match in May 2017. He appeared on the Homegrown Podcast in June 2017 where he explained the events and details of the previous 5 months. He stated that he was tired of all the controversy and restrictions that come with the life of a YouTuber. He said he didn't like the state of the website and how people no longer made videos for fun. He travelled around the world when he was off the internet.

Sidemen Beef

Main article: 2017 Sidemen War

On 3 August 2017, KSI tweeted out that he was planning to leave the Sidemen. He followed this up with a YouTube video citing Ethan as his main reason for quitting. After having the blame put on him, Ethan released a disstrack against JJ named "Drama" on 7 August. Out of nowhere, on 8 August, W2S released his own track called "KSI Sucks". After a week, on 12 August, JJ released (with RiceGum) his own diss track against Behzinga called "Earthquake". On 13 August, KSI released his second diss track on W2S named "Little Boy". The drama quickly escalated until Behzinga released - on 18 August - his second diss track on KSI; responding to "Earthquake". A few days later, W2S released his own second diss track called "KSI Exposed". KSI released another diss named "Two Birds One Stone", targeting both Harry and Joe Weller. This whole drama became known as the "Sidemen Beef" and was mainly organised by the group because they believed their channels were becoming stale.

JJ had a notable ex-girlfriend called Lois in 2017. During their relationship, JJ tried his best not to expose her to the public, due to personal reasons and fears that she would be harassed. On 31 July 2017, KSI had an interview with Caspar Lee about his career and said that he has a new girlfriend. On 1 August 2017, DramaAlert released a photograph of JJ and his girlfriend, holding hands. As the "Sidemen War" started, Behzinga and W2S "dissed" JJ for not showing his girlfriend anywhere. In October 2017, JJ released a new video titled Mauritius With My Girlfriend. In the video the two are seen in Mauritius and JJ actually revealed her face for the first time. However they broke up about a month later.

In other media

JJ's first and only acting appearance was in a film called Laid in America which premiered in September 2016. It stars JJ (as Duncan) and Caspar Lee (as Jack) about two foreign exchange students in America who, on their last day in the country, go on a quest to lose their virginity. However, with over half a million people downloading the movie illegally it is unlikely there will ever be a sequel.

Following his establishment as an iconic figure in the British media industry, JJ began to be invited to appear on numerous popular television shows, most notably on the reality series Gogglebox, and the fourth season of The Great Stand Up to Cancer Bake Off - the latter was watched by 5 million people in the UK.

Business ventures

The Prime logo.

With the Sidemen in 2021, JJ launched the restaurant chain Sides, specialising in burgers and dishes which would ordinarily be considered "side dishes". In January 2022, JJ launched a new beverage brand called Prime. This was a joint business venture with Logan Paul, with the goal of celebrating old rivals teaming up as frenemies and creating something special.

Wealth

KSI's prominent career on YouTube led to him becoming one of the wealthiest YouTubers in the U.K. very early on. He bought a Lamborghini Aventador in 2014, estimated to have cost him around £500,000. Even when he was doing YouTube whilst still in secondary school, he was earning around £1500 a month. Following his musical career taking off in the mid-2010s as well as his boxing career beginning in 2018, his combined income made JJ a comfortable multi-millionaire. In the late-2010s, he became one of the richest YouTubers in the world having an estimated net worth of $15 million. In 2020, The Times magazine stated that JJ earns an estimated £12 million per year from his combined ventures.

KSI also made a significant amount of money from his BEAST clothing company in the early-2010s, although the company is now defunct. JJ is also on the board of directors for Sidemen Entertainment Ltd. along with the six other members of the Sidemen. He owns a share of all the Sidemen companies which further contribute to his wealth.

Trivia

• KSI has a combined total of over 30 million subscribers across his two YouTube channels. 
• KSI is one of the 3 YouTubers, the others being Logan Paul and MrBeast, to develop Lunchly, a children's school lunch alternative, to the public.
• KSI's singles - Down Like That, Wake Up Call and Poppin have received over 300 million streams globally. 
• KSI's main channel is the 2nd most subscribed UK YouTuber channel, behind DanTDM. 
• "KSI" stands for "Knowledge Strength Integrity". He got these words tattooed on his body in 2017.
• He also has the word 'legacy' tattooed across his back.
• In his "Googling Myself" video, JJ said that he is agnostic.
• KSI renamed his second channel from 'KSIOlajidebtHD V2' to 'JJ Olatunji' so that he could get his real name on the 10 million subscribers Diamond Play Button.
• KSI has trypophobia.

Gallery

External links

• KSI on Wikipedia
• KSI on Wealthy Gorilla
• KSI on Spotify
• KSI on Apple Music
• KSI on Tidal
• KSI on Audiomack
• KSI on Notion

References

{{Scroll box|