Olajide “JJ” Olatunji, better known by his YouTube username Ksiolajidebt or simply KSI, is an English video game commentator, comedian and rapper.
No longer content with content, he returned with tunnel vision. “Everything changed in 2017,” he says. “I got sick of social media and became ready to talk about things in my life that were more personal, more important.”
Whether writing revision raps at school or producing original tracks for his videos, music had always played a part in KSI’s life. His time offline, though, offered him clarity. “At my first gig as a teenager,” he says, “I saw Jay-Z and Kanye at The O2 in London. I knew then one day I’d be up there too… and now my time had come.”
Despite having another EP to deliver on his deal with his label, KSI opted to release his third independently via BMG / RBC Records instead. “It was my way of saying I was done with being an animal in a zoo just being stared at; I was done with acting like a puppet on a string.”
Time: 7pm
More Newcastle Upon Tyne Listings MORE
Black Is The Color Of My Voice
Inspired by the life and music of Nina Simone, Apphia Campbell’s acclaimed Black Is The Color Of My…
Windows of Displacement
Migration, colonialism, identity and the meaning of home come together in Akeim Toussaint Buck’s Windows of Displacement at…
The Beat – Dance Crazed Too UK Tour
The Beat brings the energy of Britain’s ska and 2 Tone movement to Newcastle. Formed in Birmingham in…
The Dualers
The Dualers bring their blend of ska, reggae and Jamaican rhythm and blues to Newcastle. The South-East London…
Don’t Call Me Scary!
Don’t Call Me Scary! brings author and communications professional Monique Pennie to Newcastle City Library for a Black…
Notice. Name. Navigate.
How do you respond when somebody makes a comment or assumption that feels uncomfortable, prejudiced or simply wrong?…
Soul II Soul
Soul II Soul brings one of the most influential sounds in modern Black British music to Newcastle. Led…