KSI

=KSI= Olajide Olayinka Williams "JJ" Olatunji (born 19 June 1993), known professionally as KSI, is an English YouTuber and rapper. He is a co-founder and member of the British YouTube group known as the Sidemen. He is the CEO of Misfits Boxing and the co-owner of Prime Hydration energy drink, XIX Vodka and a restaurant chain known as Sides.

KSI registered his main YouTube account in 2009 and built a following posting gaming commentary videos of the FIFA video game series. His YouTube content has diversified to include vlog and comedy style videos. As of October 2022, he has over 41 million subscribers and over 10 billion video views across his three YouTube channels.

KSI's 2020 debut studio album, Dissimulation, debuted at number 2 on the UK Albums Chart. His second studio album, All Over the Place, debuted at number 1. He has achieved fourteen top 40 singles on the UK Singles Chart, seven of them ending up in the Top 10 and five of them ending up in the Top 5. KSI featured in the British comedy film Laid in America (2016), and was the subject of KSI: Can't Lose (2018), a documentary film following the build-up to his first amateur boxing fight against British YouTuber Joe Weller.

He was involved in two further boxing events against American YouTuber Logan Paul, the second of which was a professional bout. On 27 August 2022, he was involved in two professional crossover boxing bouts against British rapper Swarmz and Mexican boxer Luis Alcaraz Pineda on the same night.

Early life
Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji was born on 19 June 1993 in London and was raised in Watford, Hertfordshire. His father, Jide Adamulla Olatunji, hails from Ibadan, Nigeria. His mother, Yinka Atinuke, is from Islington, London. He was educated at Berkhamsted School in Berkhamsted, where he met future collaborator and Sidemen member Simon Minter.

KSI's younger brother, Deji Olatunji, is also a YouTuber. The brothers ranked first and second respectively as the "UK's Most Influential YouTube Creators" by Tubular Labs in 2015.

KSI vs Weller
Supposed hostilities between KSI and British YouTuber Joe Weller began towards the end of 2017. Following public disagreements on Twitter and diss-tracks between the pair, they announced that they would host an amateur boxing match on 3 February 2018 at Copper Box Arena, London, to settle the feud. During the announcement, the pair confronted each other, with KSI mocking Weller's struggles with depression and his use of antidepressants for which he later apologised.

The fight was won by KSI 1 minute and 37 seconds into the third round by way of technical knockout. KSI expressed his respect for Weller after the fight for being "way harder, way tougher than I thought," and praised him for his commitment to raising awareness for mental health, before calling out American YouTuber Logan Paul, his brother Jake Paul, and retired footballer Rio Ferdinand.

KSI vs Paul
Main article: KSI vs. Logan Paul

On 24 February 2018, it was announced that KSI would be fighting Logan Paul in a white-collar boxing amateur boxing match. The fight ended as a majority draw, with two judges scoring the fight even at 57–57 and a third judge scoring 58–57 in favour of KSI.

KSI vs. Paul II
Main article: KSI vs. Logan Paul II

A rematch between KSI and Paul was held on 9 November 2019 at the Staples Center, Los Angeles, and was promoted by Eddie Hearn. Unlike the first fight, the rematch was a professional fight without the use of headgear. KSI was trained by professional boxers Viddal Riley and Jeff Mayweather, uncle of Floyd Mayweather Jr. KSI defeated Paul via split decision, with two judges scoring the bout 56–55 and 57–54 in favour of KSI, and a third judge scoring the fight 56–55 in favour of Paul.

KSI vs Swarmz
Main article: KSI vs Swarmz & Luis Alcaraz Pineda

On 22 June 2021, KSI announced that he and Wasserman Promotions had partnered up to launch a boxing promotional company titled "Misfits Boxing". The first event was scheduled to take place on 27 August 2022 with KSI also set to make his boxing return as the main event.

On 1 July 2022, it was announced that KSI vs Alex Wassabi was scheduled to take place on 27 August 2022; however, due to a major concussion, it was announced on 6 August that Swarmz would be Wassabi's replacement. This marked the first event under KSI's promotion company Misfits Boxing. A series of other boxing events titled "MF & DAZN: X Series" in collaboration with DAZN, who were the distributors for KSI's previous rematch against Logan Paul, was announced, along with events to follow, marking the KSI vs Swarmz event X Series 001. KSI defeated Swarmz via 2nd round KO and won the ICB World cruiserweight title.

KSI vs Alcaraz Pineda
Main article: KSI vs Swarmz & Luis Alcaraz Pineda

On 16 August, it was announced that KSI will be facing a second opponent, thus billing the event "2 Fights 1 Night." His initial second fight was scheduled to be against the Bulgarian boxer Ivan Nikolov, who was pulled from the fight due to Nikolov having multiple white supremacist and Neo-Nazi tattoos. On 20 August, the Mexican professional boxer Luis Alcaraz Pineda was announced as KSI's second opponent on 27 August. KSI defeated Pineda via 3rd round KO. KSI then proceeded to call out Slim Albaher, winner of the Austin McBroom vs. AnEsonGib bout, Andrew Tate, and Tommy Fury.

KSI vs Danis
Main article: KSI vs Dillon Danis

On 19 November 2022, the KSI vs Dillon Danis bout was announced to be scheduled to take place at the Wembley Arena on 14 January 2023 as the fourth event under Misfits Promotion since its inception.

Acting
Main article: Laid in America

In 2016 KSI and Caspar Lee starred in the British direct-to-video comedy film Laid in America. The film was written and directed by Sam Milman and Peter Vass, and was produced by The Fun Group LLC and Max Gottlieb. The film was released direct-to-video by Universal Pictures on 26 September 2016. Jason Best of Movie Talk gave the film 1 out of 5 and called it "Crass and witless."

In 2018 KSI released a documentary film titled KSI: Can't Lose. The film reveals the behind the scenes of what led KSI to become the YouTube champing of the world after his boxing debut fight against fellow YouTube star Joe Weller, and how KSI will use what he learned to fight Logan Paul. The film was produced by fellow YouTuber Callux's film studio After Party Studios and was distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

KSI makes a brief appearance in the Amazon Original sports docuseries All or Nothing: Arsenal, which documented the club by spending time with the coaching staff and players behind the scenes both on and off the field throughout their 2021–22 season.

In 2022, it was announced that KSI's life and career would be the subject of a documentary produced by Amazon Prime Video and Louis Theroux, with Theroux stating that it would be "an opportunity to see another side of JJ, understanding how he got where he is, the world of a premium online content creator today, and a man who has made it his brand never to lose, as he takes on the music business."

Personal life
KSI is a supporter of Arsenal F.C. In his "Googling Myself" video, KSI revealed that he is agnostic.

In late November 2018, Deji revealed KSI's personal bank records in a video. KSI later condemned Deji's actions and expressed his disappointment towards his parents for allowing the publication of his financial records. In November 2019, KSI revealed that their feud was settled, stating that "brothers fight and there's always gonna be a situation where, because we're in the public eye, everything gets blown out of proportion".