2015–2016: Early releases Having sporadically written and produced
comedy–rap songs for his YouTube channel since 2011, KSI began pursuing a musical career outside of the context of his YouTube persona with the release of his debut single, "
Lamborghini", featuring British grime MC
P Money, on 23 March 2015, with
Dcypha Productions. The song charted at number 30 on the
UK Singles Chart, and remained on the charts for another two weeks, moving to number 68 and then to number 96 before dropping out of the top 100. "
Keep Up", the title song for KSI's debut extended play
of the same name, featuring
Jme, was released on 13 November 2015, reaching number 45 on the UK Singles Chart. On 29 April 2016, KSI released "Goes Off", featuring
Mista Silva, as the first single from his second EP titled
Jump Around. The EP's second single, "
Friends with Benefits", featuring MNDM, was released on 29 July 2016, reaching number 69 on the UK Singles Chart. One of the EP's songs, "Touch Down", featuring rapper and singer
Stefflon Don, appeared on the soundtrack of the 2017 film
Baywatch.
2017–2019: Independent releases in 2019|288x288px On 23 June 2017, KSI independently released "
Creature", which reached number 100 on the UK Singles Chart. On 6 October that year, KSI released his fourth EP,
Disstracktions, which includes
diss tracks against fellow Sidemen members
W2S and
Behzinga. The EP reached number 31 on the UK Albums Chart and number one on the UK R&B Albums Chart. One week before its release, KSI announced that the EP would be his "final release" with Island Records and that he would be releasing music independently. On 2 February 2018, KSI released "
Uncontrollable", featuring
Big Zuu. The song played during KSI's ring walk for his boxing fight against Joe Weller and charted at number 89 on the UK Singles Chart. which was played during his ring walk for his
second boxing bout. On 12 April 2019, KSI released a collaborative album with Randolph titled
New Age. It debuted at number 17 on the UK Albums Chart and at number one on the UK R&B Albums Chart.
2019–2020: New record label signing and Dissimulation On 4 November 2019, it was announced that KSI had signed with
RBC Records and
BMG to "take [his] music to the next level" and "further develop his music career in the US and internationally". In addition to managing KSI's future releases, it was confirmed that the label would be administering and reissuing KSI's independent catalogue recordings. That day, it was confirmed that KSI had already started recording his debut
studio album. On 8 November 2019, "
Down Like That", featuring
Rick Ross,
Lil Baby and
S-X, was released as the album's
lead single. It was performed live by the three featured artists as KSI's
entrance music for his boxing rematch against
Logan Paul. The song peaked at number 10 on the UK Singles Chart and it has been
certified silver by the
British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales of 200,000 units in the country. On 15 December KSI, Miniminter,
TBJZL, and
Zerkaa released a Christmas themed single titled "The Gift" under the
Sidemen banner featuring S-X which charted at number 77 in the UK. A further three
singles preceded the album: "
Wake Up Call", featuring
Trippie Redd, which debuted at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart; "
Poppin", featuring
Lil Pump and
Smokepurpp, which charted at number 43 in the UK; and "
Houdini", featuring
Swarmz and
Tion Wayne, which debuted at number six on the UK Singles Chart and received a silver certification from the BPI. KSI's debut studio album, titled
Dissimulation, was released on 22 May 2020. The album debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart and further charted in 15 other countries. The album spawned two further UK top 40 singles, "
Cap", featuring
Offset, and "
Killa Killa", featuring Aiyana-Lee. KSI featured on "
Lighter" by British DJ and record producer
Nathan Dawe. The song peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart and became one of the UK's best-selling songs of 2020. It has been certified platinum by the BPI for sales of 600,000 units in the UK and it was nominated for
Best British Single at the
2021 BRIT Awards. KSI also featured on "
Loose" by Zimbabwean-British artist
S1mba, which peaked at number 14 on the UK Singles Chart. On 15 January 2021, KSI released the album's second single, "
Don't Play" with
Anne-Marie and Digital Farm Animals. The song debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart, becoming KSI's highest-charting single in the UK to date, and has been certified platinum by the BPI. On 12 March 2021, KSI released the album's third single, "
Patience" featuring
Yungblud and
Polo G, which debuted at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart and has been certified silver by the BPI. On 26 April 2021, KSI announced via his social media the release of his second album
All Over the Place, which was released on 16 July that year. It debuted at number 1 on the UK Album Charts, giving KSI his first-ever chart-topper, and has been certified gold by the BPI for surpassing 100,000 sales in the country. On 18 June 2021, KSI released the album's fourth single, "
Holiday", which was only featured on the platinum edition of the album. The song debuted at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart, making it KSI's highest-charting solo single to date. On 6 August 2021, KSI released the album's fifth single, "
Lose" with American rapper
Lil Wayne, and was the lead single for the deluxe edition of the album, which was released on 27 August. The single peaked at number 18 on the UK Singles Chart and also debuted at number 86 on the
Billboard Hot 100, becoming KSI's first ever single to enter that chart. On 6 May 2022, KSI featured on "
Locked Out" by S-X. The single is S-X's third single for his debut album. "Locked Out" became S-X's first single to chart in the UK Official Charts which peaked at number 53. On 5 August, KSI released "
Not Over Yet" featuring
Tom Grennan. "Not Over Yet" charted at number four on the UK Single Charts, and debuted at number one on
The Official Big Top 40. The single marked the first record under Atlantic Records. A remix featuring
Headie One and
Nines released on 28 August and served as KSI's ring walk tune in his bout against Luis Alcaraz Pineda on
27 August. On 30 September, KSI released "
Summer Is Over". On 5 December, KSI, TBJZL, and
Vikkstar123 released a Christmas-themed single titled "
Christmas Drillings" under the
Sidemen banner featuring Jme, which charted at number 3 in the UK. On 27 January 2023, KSI released "
Voices" featuring
Oliver Tree. On 13 May, KSI released "
Easy" with
Bugzy Malone and
R3HAB which served as KSI's ring walk tune in his bout against
Joe Fournier on
the same night. On 31 August 2024, KSI performed a two-part concert at
MF & DAZN: X Series 17, in which he previewed two unreleased singles, "Low" and "
Thick of It", featuring Trippie Redd. On 3 October, KSI released both songs as a double-single release, the latter of which was subjected to negative reception and mockery. On 19 November, KSI received
BRIT Billion Award for amassing over one billion music streams in the UK. On 13 December, KSI released his third single of the year, "Dirty", which had previously been leaked in July 2024. The song received a positive reception following the negative response to "Thick of It". On 23 January 2025, "Thick of It" was nominated for Song of the Year at
The BRIT Awards 2025. On 30 May, KSI released another double-single with "Catch Me If You Can" and "So Far Away", the latter featuring S-X which had previously leaked in July 2024 alongside "Dirty". ==Boxing career==