KSI - Dissimulation [Album Review]

YouTube phenomenon. The new age celebrity. Unbeaten professional boxer. KSI has a lot of things going for him and there are big groups of people who discredit him and his come up into fame and stardom. Regardless of this, he has an absolutely monumental following of over 21 million subscribers on his main YouTube channel at the time of writing, 5.7 million Twitter followers, 8.1 followers on Instagram and many more haters across the world. Even if you don't like KSI, you know who he is. Currently at the top of his game, he released Dissimulation, his debut solo album, on May 22nd, with the deluxe version following it up on May 25th.

The album differs from his collaborative album with fellow YouTuber and musician Randolph , titled "New Age", which saw KSI bring more of the aggressive deliveries and refrain from vocal melodies, which Randolph brought more of on that album. However, with this being a solo album, KSI has stepped out of his usual comfort zone and entered a lane of spacey trap beats and autotune. The trap songs see KSI either sing or rap in the autotune, like in the opener "What You Been On", where he seems to be swinging between rapping and singing over the instrumental, which has ominous guitars and vocal samples, giving the opening track an air of absolute confidence.

The trap style does have some low points, however. "Cap" has a lazy hook that just sounds rushed, and KSI's verse doesn't stand out, being completely overshadowed by Offset, who effortlessly finds the pockets in the instrumental and flows over the beat exceptionally well. "Poppin" has by far the worst features on the album with Lil Pump and Smokepurrp, who was decent on the chorus with KSI, but both features had poor verses, especially Lil Pump, even though this is expected from one of the worst successful rappers the world has ever heard. Thankfully, KSI announced a challenge back when the song first came out, where the winner would feature on the remix. Rapper Crypt won the challenge, and the remix, at the end of the deluxe album, finally makes the song listenable, as KSI doesn't have 2 people ruining his song. Crypt's verse is exceptional, with subtle punchlines, expert fast flows and using alliteration at the end of the verse to spell out the name of the song.

The three best songs are clearly "Houdini", where KSI switches up from his normal sound and delivers part of his verse in an accent, which freshens up the album and brings welcomed variety to the album, along with "Killa Killa". This features singer Aiyana-Lee, who delivers the best hook on the album and KSI does well in his verses as well, making the track a clear highlight on the album. "Down Like That" is a KSI classic, not only because of the memories attached to it with the boxing fight with fellow YouTuber Logan Paul, but also because the song has an unmatched energy to it. S-X shows his musical talent on both the hook and production here, as both are executed to a very high standard.

Final thoughts

This is better than expected from KSI, however, I do think he needs to experiment a bit more with his style. I'm not saying he needs to only make one type of music, but it is clear that there are some very high points on this record and areas that need work. The deluxe tracks that were added should have been put on the main album over some songs that made the cut.

Track by Track review

My track by track review as I listened

My track by track review as I listened

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KSI - Dissimulation (Deluxe Edition)

Listen to KSI - Dissimulation (Deluxe Edition)