Ajakoo Johnson-Roberts

Ajakoo Johnson-Roberts, also simply known as AJ, is a Flarlandian merman of Akan descent.

Biography

AJ was born in 1990 in the western coast of Flarland as the younger brother of Kwesi, who was expelled decades earlier from the Akanian coast due to the Maame Wata virus that was spread at the time. Upon his arrival to Flarlandian shores, local authorities were aware that the newfound merman was a victim of the above "virus" and had to be known as just "AJ" to avoid problems with Akanian authorities. These were solved in 2000. In his early years he lived in relative poverty, mostly without access to Kwesi and Priscilla.

By 1996 he became an amateur music producer, composing his own songs mostly for fun. He attempted to emulate styles followed by many black artists worldwide, particularly among Sierran and Hopelandian artists, but failed. Sometimes he felt like he had a depression of sorts and was countered by other dreams of his.

AJ mainly watched cartoons on television and his wish was to make his own series.

His first work for television was Not Your Agent, a short film sent to Channel 14's DIY TV competition in 2000, and later he branched out into comic strips and later webtoons, the most notorious of which was Housemates.

He founded Intense Entertainment in 2002. Intense served as an emulator of the immensely popular Exceeda Couch Slave, Soupstock was their way to counter the growing popularity of Team KRA, but failed miserably. He never worked at Couch Slave although Khyber did work at Intense, mainly for support between the two.

He started a new, more successful music career in 2000, following a genre most black artists refused to produce: alternative, nonsensical music, inspired by the works of bands like Chumbawamba and Pyracy. He met John Risham with Khyber Waterman in 2000, Risham acted as his music teacher.

In February 2005, he composed the music for K-Zone's channel theme song, "There's a Kid in Me", and was also responsible for a revision of the lyrics. During the nearly two years of use, it became a smash hit among K-Zone viewers until the channel dropped it in February 2007 as part of a rebrand. The song was also sold to Lenapore's Kids Central.

In 2010, he composed "I Got Kicked Out from the FBC", a song created in response to new measures made by the increasingly "backward" Flarlandian Broadcasting Corporation. Ajakoo said that, while the song wasn't directly aimed at him, he speculated that it was more of "an affair within the music industry". Furthermore, an "FBC-friendly" version, The Knights of Political Correctness, was made, but was received with limited reactions, both within and without the FBC. A third version of the song, known as "Get Your Act Together" reacted to Pyracy losing its slots on FBC Radio 3 due to allegedly "daytime-unfriendly" content. His official site provided an official instrumental, with over 200 submitted covers of a number of themes. The song managed to be popular in the United States, where covers often replaced "FBC" with "FCC", in allusion to the fact that Sierran radio stations were rather infamous for not playing Flarlandian songs at all, mostly due to their content.

Personal life

Ajakoo is described as "insane", taking cues from his well-received album and song Insanity. He speaks fluent Twi.

Outside of Intense, he owns 50% of the shares of Warley Trax, an independent record label (mostly operating on internet platforms) giving new artists the chance to create and showcase their songs.

Relationships

Khyber Waterman

For years, Khyber and AJ were seen as enemies, mostly due to the fact that they had contrasting views. He allegedly first saw something made by Khyber while he watched Friday Night Khyber on FBC 3 in 1996. His lack of resources was an initial cause, but when he started taking music classes with John Risham, his views on Khyber were neutral.

Filmography

Film

• Khyber: The Animated Film (2018)

Music

• Virtuality (album, 2002)
• There's a Kid in Me (2005, music and revision of lyrics)
• Insanity (album and single, 2006)
• The Knights of Political Correctness aka "I Got Kicked from the FBC" (single, part of Psygnosis, 2010)
• Beautiful Keyboard 2009 (single, 2019)

Television

• Not Your Agent (2000)
• Escapist Boy (first live-action television appearance as host of "Bulungian Talk"; 2000-2002)
• Soupstock (2004-2006)
• some episodes of Khyber: The Animated Series (2013-present)
• Short Cutz with AJ (2014)
• Housemates (2017-present)

Internet

• Housemates (2001-2006, 2008-2009)
• Code Red (2003)
• Housemates Reloaded (2007)
• Sleepeasy (2007)
• City Atrimoden (2014)
• Home and Here (2017-2019)

Controversies

FBC ban

The Flarlandian Broadcasting Corporation issued a ban on Ajakoo Johnson-Roberts' work in April 2014, when the corporation had allegedly said that the lyrics to I Got Kicked from the FBC - known under the "FBC-sanitized" version as "The Knights of Political Correctness" - were against the FBC directly. At the time of writing, the FBC was still at the center of a series of corporate shake-ups.