Interview: KSI On Wanting To Collaborate With Childish Gambino, His Relationship With Music, His Boxing Matches & More

The Youtube sensation and UK rapper KSI has made waves in the music industry recently with his collaborations with some of the hottest names in rap. The music industry isn’t the only sector KSI has made noise in but he has gained worldwide attention for his amateur boxing match with fellow Youtuber Logan Paul in 2018 which was the biggest white-collar match in history, with over 20 million people streaming the fight. KSI didn’t stop there though. They both fought again late last year at the Staples Center in LA for a match that was dubbed the internet event of the century. A couple of days after that fight, he went and filmed his music video with Lil Baby and Rick Ross. The range! Starting out as making gaming videos on Youtube as a teenager, 26-year-old KSI now has a combined number of 29 million subscribers on Youtube. 

After conquering the world of Youtube, KSI has set his sights on music, planning to release an album this summer and has already begun to break into the American music scene. I was fortunate enough to have a chat with the very giddy KSI, fresh off his November win to discuss everything KSI. We chat about his early beginnings with Youtube, his relationship with music, wanting to collaborate with Childish Gambino, his Wake Up Call music video and his boxing matches.

Hey KSI, how are you today?

Yooo I’m very good, how are YOU?

I’m good thank you, thanks for asking (laughs). So you started releasing music in 2015 and have put out a few things each year since then. What’s your relationship with music, like have you always wanted to be a musician?

Oh, well I mean I’ve been putting out music waaay before (laughs) 2015 so yeah I mean-

OH, my bad. I meant more in terms of like officially having music on Spotify and having your first official music video on Youtube.

Oh, no, it’s alright, it’s okay (laughs). I’ve been doing music for a time like even when I was younger, when I was in school I would do music to help me remember things cause I have a shit memory and I still do but uhh, yeah. I’d always make raps about certain things and certain subjects to help me remember things in exams. I’d have like, chemistry raps and others just so I could remember certain subjects. Yeah, I’d been doing music for time and it was always just a hobby that I’d like to do. There’s no other favourite feeling than hearing a sick beat and going “oh, let me go ham on this”, then sticking in a sick chorus and yeah just having fun with it. I just love it. It’s something I’ve always been passionate about.

Oh that’s awesome! So what made you like, start to get serious with music?

Uhh, definitely when I released Lamborghini and the funny thing is that I put Lamborghini as just like a joking-ish track cause I was just like oh I bought a Lamborghini with all the Youtube money I was able to make throughout the years and you know, um I was able to make enough money to buy a Lamborghini and I was like “fuck, this is sick! Ima make a rap about it” and you know, I didn’t think it’d do anything, just another Youtube video but yeah, it just popped off. It got into the charts, the top 40, the UK charts and I was like “what the fuck is going on” and then uhh, yeah, during that period I was with Sway, he was a big artist at the time as well and uh, he was a good friend of mine. We still talk to this day and yeah, he just thought that I had talent. Even before I dropped Lamborghini like, he helped me with um, me dropping Lamborghini like before I did a track with him called Sleep. Yeah, I was having fun, I was enjoying myself. When Lamborghini took off, I was like “you know what, fuck it, I can actually do this a lot more seriously” but you know like, I’m not a serious guy all the time so I still made tracks with mates. I’d say the past few years I’ve definitely stepped up and been like, it’s time to take this up a notch and show that I can be up there with the top musical artists right now so.

For the last couple months, you’ve put out songs with fire features, Rick Ross, Lil Baby, Trippie Redd who are all well established in the music scene. Who else would you like to collaborate with?

Uhh, who else would I- ooohhh.. Uh, I think it would be sick, like so so so so sick to work with Childish Gambino. I think that would be sick. 

Oh yeah, you guys would make some fire.

I fuck with him a lot. I mean, I don’t know, it’s just one of things you never know like, I don’t think we would work right now but there will be a time. Same with like Kendrick Lamar and uhh yeah, it’s one of those things where it’s all about time and uhh, when the vibe feels right and right now, I’m tryna just make my own name and show everyone that I can do what they say I can’t do. And once people go “okay, he can do it” then it’s like alright, it’s time to take it to another level and make even bigger, better music.. Yeah, it’s always about improving but uhh, yeah. Tyler, The Creator is another one. Frank Ocean. It’s one of those things where it’ll just happen when it happens. You can’t force it.

Definitely. It’s something you’d want to happen organically.

Exactly.

Do you see yourself focusing more on your music career this year as opposed to Youtube?

Yeah. My main focus is music. I got an album coming out this summer so my main focus is music and making sure that my music is on point and uh, making sure I make a statement this year so. 

Exciting! I really loved the Wake Up Call music video by the way. Not only was it just a good song but it was comedic and it was cool to see like a “behind the scenes” themed music video. What made you come up with that idea?

When I was with the director I was like it’ll be a funny idea if I was pissed off the whole time. It’s just like a funny concept just to show like “oh, I didn’t want the music video to be like this” and I’m there complaining while it’s just chaos. Everyone’s like “oh yeah yeah, do this, do this” and I’m there like “I DON’T want this to happen! Why are there dancers? Why am I in a ugly yellow suit? Why did they make me wear this fucking hat?” etcetera. I wanted it just to be entertaining as well as enjoying the music. Yeah, it was kinda just trying to find the right balance. I feel like I did alright with it (laughs)

Definitely, it was sick! What was Trippie Redd’s reaction to like the dwarf version of him, that was pretty random (laughs).

Ohhh, he thought it was fucking hilarious. He was having so much fun with it. The guy himself was just so funny man, he was so funny. He was literally just trying to act like Trippie and he’s just like smoking as well, smoking weed, getting high as hell! To the point where he literally passed out! It was mental but yeah nah, it was a fun shoot.

That sounds like so much fun. Are you heavily involved in like, creating the concepts behind your music videos?

Yeah, yeah. I’m always like making sure I’m hands-on with it. I’m making sure it’s 100% in the direction I want it to be in so.

What’s your favourite music video you’ve created so far?

Oh, it has to be On Point which was like a diss track at Logan Paul. I did it for my first fight against him. Yeah, the attention to detail was just tremendous. I wanted it to be just phenomenal and uh, it was so yeah, like.. Like to the point where even Logan had to compliment it. It was just so good.

Well, that’s awesome. What pulled you to start making Youtube videos? I understand you were in your early teens when you made a channel.

Yeah, so, I was in my early teens, you know, I did a lot of Youtube videos. I loved everything about Youtube. I was watching videos every day when I was young. I was always watching Youtube. I was like.. I was just obsessed with it and then eventually it got to the point where I was like, you know what? I wanna make a Youtube video of my own so I researched everything that you needed to do to make a Youtube video, especially towards gaming because that was what I really enjoyed. I would take my computer from upstairs and bring it downstairs to I guess the “gaming room” and yeah, I would just record me playing games and uh, I’d make compilations and I just worked on that. And yeah, I remember one of the first videos I posted was a care package kill and I remember I was playing soooo many hours to get that so when I managed to get it, I was like “oh my god, this is sick”. I remember I posted it and I got like 10 views in a few months and I was gassed! (laughs) yeah yeah and then the next year it went up to like a thousand views and I was over the moon man, I was told my parents, I told my bro, like everyone like, “I’M KILLING IT ON YOUTUBE!” (laughs) “ohh, I’ve got a thousand views” and then a few years later it just kept going up and just grew and grew and grew and I slowly built an audience but yeah, I remember I used to always post my videos everywhere like on forums and stuff, on uhh, I’d literally blast it on Twitter, oh man, yeah I was just going ham with it. Cause even forums when they were talking bout the most random things I’d be like “check out my video, check out my gaming video, it’s a care package kill” (laughs) oh man.

You’re really like the Youtube success story, that’s amazing.

Thank you.

So you pretty much pioneered celebrity boxing, what made you come up with that idea?

I definitely wouldn’t say I came up with it, I’d have to say it was all Joe Weller that started it. Umm, Malfoy- ugh, I keep saying Malfoy, he’s gonna hate me for calling him Malfoy but uh yeah, it started out as a joke. I messaged Joe on his Instagram page saying I’ll fight the winner between him and his mate and I wasn’t taking it seriously, it was just hype on Instagram and that’s that. He took it seriously though and he kept making videos of me saying “let’s fight, let’s do this” blah, blah, blah. And then uh, eventually yeah we got to it, we had the fight, I won and then I called out the Paul brothers and then Logan was like “yeah let’s do it” and we had our first fight at the Manchester Arena, had the second fight at the Staples Center and looking back at it now, it’s absolutely unreal that I was able to even do that.

Yeah it’s insane!

Yeah it’s unreal and then going to the Staples Center in LA?! Sold that out and aww mann.. (laughs). I like to humble myself and uh, yeah, not get into the craziness of it all cause it blows my mind all the time so yeah, I really enjoyed myself.

Did you like, have any boxing experience before all this happened?

No. Zero. Absolutely zero. When I messaged Joe Weller, I had zero experience. I watched fights but I didn’t even know, I didn’t even know what was going on, like it was about winning and getting knockout and I didn’t get boxing. Now I understand everything about boxing- well, not everything (laughs) I take that back. I don’t know everything about boxing but I know a good amount like why certain people jab, why certain people aim for the body, why certain people lose certain weight.. Like I know my thing when it comes to boxing and how important footwork is etcetera but now I know it’s an art, I know it’s a science. I know it’s all in the mind.

Well, it was so nice talking to you KSI, thank you for your time!

Thank you so much!

Interview: Breanna Tugaga-Rogers

About The Writer:

Breanna is a 21 year old uni student who was born in Australia and raised in South Auckland. Half New Zealand European and half Samoan, Breanna is undergoing a Bachelor of Arts, double-majoring in Communications and Sociology. Currently residing in Auckland, Breanna loves hip hop, rap, RnB music and enjoys watching TV shows, movies, travelling, going to concerts and keeping in touch with the latest of pop culture. Breanna especially enjoys writing and using it as an outlet to talk her sh*t. Breanna loves to always integrate her worldview, her background and her experiences into her writing and values your feedback.