IShowSpeed hit a major milestone for his 21st birthday.
As AFROTECH™ previously reported, IShowSpeed, born Darren Jason Watkins Jr., caught the streaming bug while in high school, and he never looked back, even amid pushback from his mother after his first stream went viral with 30,000 views.
“My sophomore year, I kind of gave up on school. I kind of gave up on everything that I had in my old life and just put everything on my stream. I streamed every day. I didn’t care about nothing else except YouTube streaming,” IShowSpeed said on the “Club Shay Shay” podcast with Shannon Sharpe.
By the time he was 16, he had already become a millionaire, per AFROTECH™. Forbes reported that IShowSpeed’s streams started primarily around him playing video games such as “NBA 2K,” and in 2023, he took his streams worldwide, beginning in Europe and then Southeast Asia. In Indonesia alone, he made history during a single livestream, garnering 1 million concurrent viewers, the outlet noted.
“When I reached that moment, I just started crying because [there were] a million live viewers, something that I always dreamed of. That’s the accolade that every streamer wants to reach. And I did it alone. No collab. No event. Just me streaming. That’s true art right there,” he expressed to Forbes.
IShowSpeed is currently on a tour through Africa, having visited Algeria, Egypt, and Zambia, according to his Instagram. He most recently visited Nigeria to celebrate his 21st birthday. The fruits of his labor were reaffirmed when he hit 50 million subscribers on YouTube while streaming for the special occasion in Lagos, Nigeria, as shared live. He became the first Black creator to reach this milestone, according to Black Millionaires.
“Chat, this is the best birthday gift that I could ever ask for. I love y’all so much. I love all my fans from the bottom of my heart. I’m so happy chat. We finally reached 50 million,” he expressed on stream.
IShowSpeed ranked among the top-earning creators in 2025, with $20 million, according to Forbes estimates.
