Today, KSI is the third biggest YouTube star in the U.K. — second only in subscribers to Ed Sheeran and One Direction. But the 24-year-old’s exploits in the boxing ring — including a massively-viewed fight with fellow creator Joe Weller and a forthcoming match against polarizing vlogger Logan Paul — have catapulted his career to untold heights.
In one of his first sit-down interviews with Esquire, KSI — whose real name is Olajide Olatunji and whose YouTube moniker stands for ‘knowledge, strength, and integrity’ — talked about the ways in which he’s latched onto rapidly evolving YouTube trends in order to stay relevant. In the past, Olatunji has been a prankster, a gamer, and a diss track rapper. “Now, with boxing, I’ve created a new trend,” he told the magazine. “I’ve always adapted well, and that’s what’s led to my success.”
Olatunji also explained that much of this success has been derived by stoking the flames of YouTube drama — a fact that he acknowledged was unfortunate. He also didn’t confirm or deny that much of this drama is manufactured in the name of clickbait. “YouTube has been created in a way where you receive the videos that have the most attention, and, unfortunately as humans, the thing that creates most attention is violence and crime, beef and drama…Drama is always going to be an eye-catcher.”
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To this end, Olatunji’s August meeting with Paul will be his biggest stunt to date — held at an arena three times bigger than the one in which he faced Weller, and with plans to charge for access to the live stream. While Olatunji has fighting words for Jake Paul, Logan’s younger brother — calling him “a terrible role model who doesn’t deserve anything” — he holds a more charitable view of his opponent. “Everyone makes mistakes,” Olatunji said of Paul’s suicide vlog controversy. “You have to learn from your mistakes and don’t make them again.”
Check out Olatunji’s full conversation with Esquire right here.
