Black In Business: K.S.I.

The popular, praised and often controversial social media monopoly known as YouTube, has become a platform for a variety of creators to share aspects of their life that they are passionate about. Regarding the content creators and their respective audiences, I have always been an advocate for gaming, music and social commentary on political, social and economic issues on a global scale. While I found myself looking for those individual genres in various youtubers, there has been one creator that has those attributes and many more, all in one channel and fanbase. His name is William Olajide Olayinka Olatunji, also known as KSI, an acronym for 'Knowledge', 'Strength' and 'Integrity'.

27-year-old KSI was born in Watford, England. Since his early videos on the platform YouTube, he has been involved into various forms of entertainment.

I have been inspired by KSI in recent years because of his versatility regarding content, as well as being able to relate with our African roots. From jokes and skits including what its like to have strict African parents to playing his favorite sports game ‘FIFA', he's shown keen interest in entertaining different audiences, with varying age groups. It's something that expands well beyond the mere boundaries of being labelled as a YouTuber. It’s already difficult to formulate a large following on any social media platform, let alone YouTube, yet KSI was able to do it over the course of his late teens and early twenties. That is the most flattering and astonishing part about his success because even he stated that this was not something he envisioned in the beginning of his career. This is what makes KSI’s evolution and maturation so graceful, yet he is still able to retain his charismatic appeal.

One of the more recent highlights of his YouTube channel consists of ‘YouTube Boxing’ as he called out one of his YouTube Colleges in 2017, Joe Weller. KSI knew that fighting his friend, even on an amateur level, would not be of ease, especially as a first-time boxer. He would go on to lose a significant amount of weight during his training camp, as well as hone in on the basics of boxing to fight and beat Joe Weller. Upon defeating Joe Weller in 2018, KSI would then set his sights on Jake and Logan Paul, a pair of YouTube content creators whom are not new to controversy. Over the course of two years, KSI and Logan Paul would engage in two separate fights, on both an amateur and professional level. With KSI retaining a perfect record after defeating Logan in their 2019 rematch, he decided to continue his music career through the promotion and release of his first studio album, ‘Dissimulation”.

Why are these factors, stories, and scenarios important to KSI as a man and YouTuber? It has allowed KSI to display his ability to be versatile and attract different niche audiences. He has stated on numerous occasions that he cannot stay stagnant and reliant on one form of entertainment for long, as he finds it to be ‘boring’ or ‘futile.’ Being able to balance a personal life and relationship with his family with YouTube is difficult enough, yet he has been able to display his works within and outside the boundaries of YouTube, as it is revealed that he has streams of income in music, boxing, streaming, etc. This is what inspires me to do what I am most passionate about regarding the act of mastering my craft and being able to market it. From Rapping, Gaming, Skits to even Boxing, he has created a variety of avenues and sources of income. He has proven that the notion of laying ‘all of his eggs in one basket’ is not beneficial, as a detriment could occur where he is no longer able to upload YouTube videos. He personifies what it means to be an entrepreneur and content creator. The fact that he is accomplishing all these accolades and goals without it coming at the expense of his happiness is incredible. Although YouTube is one of his multiple sources of income, he has yet to truly work a day in his young life, as he is passionate about being a content creator. He inspires me to achieve and maintain that level of peace, a peace that is considered a luxury by many people of all ages. This is a peace that extends far beyond the realms of having a plethora of materialistic desires and assets. This is a peace that money cannot buy, and is something that is to inspire after by many.