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YouTube Star And Rapper KSI Coming To Norwich In 2021 Tour

YouTuber and rapper KSI has announced he is coming to Norwich on his 2021 tour.

KSI, whose real name is Olajide Olayinka Williams 'JJ' Olatunji, will be appearing at The Waterfront on May 20, 2021, as part of his 10-day tour across the UK.

Presale tickets are on sale now with general sale starting on Friday, October 30 at 9am.

KSI started his career as a YouTuber in 2009 where he uploaded gaming-commentary videos.

Since then, he has racked up 22 million subscribers and participated in a YouTube boxing matches which had up to 4.9 million viewers across three matches.

Now he is having success with his music career with hits including Down Like That, Houdini and Lighter which were all top 10 singles.

To grab your tickets to see KSI, visit shops.Ticketmasterpartners.Com/ksi-2021

How KSI Earned More Than His Teachers By Playing Fifa

KSI's YouTube videos have been watched more than five billion times

KSI runs a media empire out of his bedroom.

As the 20 million people who subscribe to his main YouTube Channel will know, that room is a humble, plain white box, somewhere in central London.

The floor is often strewn with clothes, cereal bowls and packing boxes. The blinds are semi-permanently drawn. The only clues to his wealth are a framed Pele shirt on the wall and, since June this year, a silver disc, in recognition of his burgeoning music career.

But that room has made him one of the internet's biggest stars. It's where he's filmed himself playing video games, reacting to memes, and practising raps. And it's where, over the last 12 years, he's amassed a £12m fortune, with the Sunday Times rich list naming him One To Watch earlier this year.

KSI's real name is Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji, although friends call him JJ. He was born in 1993 to a Nigerian immigrant couple. His mother worked as a PA, his father managed a bingo hall, but they saved enough to send him to Berkhamsted School - where the yearly fees are currently £21,000 per pupil.

Initially he did well, scoring three As, five Bs and a C in his GCSEs. He made up raps to help him study, some of which he recorded and uploaded to his first, and now defunct YouTube channel.

"The current is the flow of electrons," he sings on the perfunctorily-titled Physics Rap. On another track, he breaks down the Haber process, in an attempt to cram for a Chemistry test.

"Oh God, man, those bars were cringey," says KSI, "but at the time I thought I was sick."

The rapper has turned his YouTube fame into a property empire

The videos can still be tracked down with a bit of creative Googling - but KSI would rather you didn't bother.

"I'm trying to delete them from the internet - but it's annoying because I don't know the password or the email to that YouTube channel," he laughs. "So I can't delete it, and it's just there."

Controversial videos

With his GCSEs over, Olatunji registered what has become his main YouTube channel - giving himself the name KSI because it stands for knowledge, strength, integrity.

Those early videos mostly consist of him playing Fifa and Call Of Duty - but his easy-going personality and boundless enthusiasm were eminently watchable. Within two years, he was making £1,500 a month - more than some of his teachers - but his grades started to fall.

"It was one of those things where you have to pick one or the other and I picked YouTube, which at the time, my parents were heavily against."

Still hoping he'd become a lawyer or a doctor - "typical African parent things" - they tried hiding his XBox and cutting off his internet.

As it turns out, they needn't have worried. KSI may not have applied himself at school, but he knew the value of hard work.

"I've always said that I'm not talented… I just work hard to the point which allows me to reach a level similar to people that would be talented, and then break beyond that."

Certainly, his work rate is prodigious. He posts 15 to 20 new videos a month on his secondary channel, JJ Olatunji, reserving the main account for music.

Most of his videos are harmless fun - filming his reaction to funny YouTube videos, or answering questions from fans ("who is your barber?" asked one).

But it wasn't always so innocent. In 2013, he was accused of verbally abusing staff at a gaming convention. He also lost an endorsement deal with Microsoft after posting a series of "rape face" videos, in which he'd turn to the camera with a leery, suggestive expression.

He subsequently apologised and deleted those videos, saying he's "disgusted" by them. In a recent Q&A, a fan accused him of bowing to pressure from "snowflakes" and "cancel culture", and urged him to go back to his old ways.

"I don't care about cancel culture," he responded. "But the idea of me doing those old-style videos? Nah."

More than 1.2 million people bought pay-per-view subscriptions for KSI's fight with Logan Paul last November

Instead, KSI started focusing on another outlet - boxing. In 2018, he challenged fellow YouTube star Logan Paul to an amateur bout, which became the biggest white-collar match in history, streamed by more than 20 million people worldwide.

It ended in a draw, so the two men met for a rematch in Los Angeles last November. When KSI won, he took home a seven-figure pay packet.

More importantly, perhaps, he chose to enter the ring to one of his own songs - a bone-chilling hip-hop track called Down Like That, which featured US rappers Rick Ross and Lil Baby.

In the wake of his victory, the song climbed the UK charts, giving KSI his first top 10 hit. Not bad, considering his previous nine singles missed the Top 40 altogether.

He's since followed it up with two further top 10 hits; while his debut album, Dissimulation, was only held off number one by The 1975 this March.

'Trash music'

The success is proof, he says, that he's improving all the time - although having to do that in the full glare of the spotlight has its pros and cons.

"A big con is a lot of people get to see the trash - and they judge me on that," he says. "But a pro is that people see my progression. They see that I'm not just hopping on the trend, and that music's always been my passion and they respect it a lot more because of it."

In fact, his followers are the best barometer for his new music.

"If I make a terrible song, they'll let me know. They'll dislike those videos, pile on me, make memes of me for producing such trash music," he says.

"But then if I could produce something good, they'll let me know that, too. And that's why I'm able to get those type of songs in the charts."

The star says music is his main priority, but he'll never give up on YouTube

His latest single, released last Friday, has so far got a universal thumbs up. Really Love is a throwback garage track featuring the vocal talents of Craig David.

It would have been a perfect summer holiday anthem, if 2020 had allowed anyone a summer holiday - but KSI doesn't care about that. He's just stoked to be on the same record as Craig David.

"Twenty years ago when I was in the car with my parents, we'd listen to Seven Days and Can You Fill Me In.... So I'm like, 'How have I ended up here?'"

He proudly shows off the star's phone number in his address book - saying the two have bonded since meeting up to record the track.

"We just clicked like, you know? Certain people that I've worked with, boy, I've really had to force it - but with Craig, it's so easy," he says. "He's the nicest guy and a lot of fun to work with."

The song has already taken up prime position on various New Music playlists, and it topped the iTunes chart first thing on Friday morning. But as KSI's music career takes off, he promises not to get swept away by fame.

"It's crazy, like, I don't even go into studios," he says. "A lot of times, I just play the beat over and over and actually just write in my bedroom."

Really Love by KSI, Craig David and Digital Farm Animals is out now.

KSI reveals parents' anguish over not going to uni

How the boxing world reacted to KSI v Logan Paul II

YouTube Star KSI Kept Apart From Opponents By Cage For First Face-off Ahead Of 2v1 Boxing Return

YouTube boxer KSI makes his return next month in a rare 2v1 boxing fight against fellow social media fighter Slim Albaher and MMA star Anthony Taylor.

The chart-topping rapper was last out in October against Tommy Fury on what was dubbed The Prime Card, losing one of 2023's most controversial decisions. Now, he returns to the ring to kick off another run by facing a tag team of two formidable opponents.

Comical former Bellator fighter Taylor and unbeaten Misfits boxer Albaher will prove interesting opponents for his ring return. And they had to be separated by a plexiglass cage as they shared an intense face-off in London this afternoon.

KSI kept apart from Anthony Taylor and Slim Albaher in fiery first face-off

With both Anthony Taylor and Slim Albaher known for their antics at press conferences, they were kept apart by a cage for their first face-off with KSI. The Brit stood with his middle finger raised while the pair goaded him, before taking turns having their own face-offs.

The reasoning given by KSI for facing the pair at once, as opposed to a standard fight with either, is that neither is a large enough pay-per-view star. But with both holding belts in the Misfits Boxing world, they are viewed as formidable opponents.

Albaher is super-middleweight champion and has never lost in his seven boxing fights, most recently knocking out the renowned Salt Papi on The Prime Card. Meanwhile, Taylor is a MMA veteran who won his last five in the cage before moving to boxing, where he is the Misfits light-heavyweight champion.

Anthony Taylor vows to brutalise KSI 'in front of his family'

KSI made his intentions clear during a wacky press conference, telling Albaher that he plans to face him first and land a stoppage, before moving on to the more difficult challenge of Taylor. While the MMA star has a number of high-profile losses, he is believed to be a more credible opponent given his experience.

Taylor also insisted that he will be stopping his rival, and leaving him in a pool of blood during a menacing promo. "Listen, I'm going to embarrass you in front of your f***ing family," he declared. "Your mom and dad is going to see their son bleeding on the floor.

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"KSI, this is not fun, I'm going to knock you out. You fought bums! I seen you knocked down by Logan Paul. You have the biggest target on your forehead… Can we all agree that KSI is actually planning his training camp around me?

"Coaches can agree that I'm his hardest opponent, the coaches know with their MMA background that I'm his hardest f***ing opponent in the whole community."

KSI vs Slim and Anthony Taylor rules explained for 2v1 boxing fight

The fight between KSI and the tag team of Slim Albaher and Anthony Taylor will take place over an undisclosed number of three-minute rounds. At any one time, KSI will fight either Albaher or Taylor in a one-on-one traditional boxing bout, with the American duo able to tag out by touching gloves.

KSI is a known knockout artist in the ring

It is expected that Albaher will start, although no decision has been made yet. There will be a minimum of one tag per round, with a maximum of three, forcing either man to fight unlike previous Misfits bouts where tags were unlimited.

If KSI knocks out one fighter, the other will step in immediately and the bout will continue as a one-on-one fight. The actual live action in the ring will take place under standard professional boxing rules.

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