Interview with Akil Kuro

The primary intent behind this collaborative blog series is to give fellow African VTubers the spotlight to share any part of their daily routine along with other behind-the-scenes content. Kicking off the 2nd string of these brand NEW interviews is the ever so lovely Akil Kuro (also known as The Chosen Trickster).

Q: When did you first start out making content online?

A: I first started making some content around 2020 when the pandemic was happening. I had just got to my first duty station and as soon as I finished processing, all of a sudden I was told we was on lockdown for a bit so we had to go to our Home until they figure something out. I was bored in my room and decided to do some TikTok videos of just random skits and me making beats in my room.

Then I got introduced to VTubers around that time, it caught my interest and I was curious on how to start but decided to think about later. Some time goes by and I was out of the military because a friend of mines was in trouble and I got looped into it. Was I pissed? Yeah, but I took it as a sign that I wasn’t meant to be there.

Now that I was back home i had some free time to see how far I wanted to keep going with music so kept posting myself making beats, sampling old songs and they was getting some good reception. I then eventually started streaming with a gaming laptop, 2 milk crates to use as a stand by my bed and my tv and a ghetto rig setup to capture gameplay. I then came across Shizzy who also goes by “The Gawd” and seeing his videos and streams convinced me to try out VTubing, so I had went and got myself a model based around Persona 5, using that same setup and just making things work.

As 2 Years goes by, I ended up having a whole new setup with extra monitors, an actual PC for gaming, and just use my laptop to stream everything, and a decent XLR Mic and Mixer with a brand new model and no longer just be a “Black Version of Joker” with some actual lore.

Q: Tell me about yourself and your daily routine.

A: I’m from the south, Alabama specifically. My daily routine is mostly going with the flow of everything. Besides working every weekday as a Route Driver, my day can depends on how I really feel in all honesty. I could be making a beat one day, I could just stream this day on whatever time, or I could just smoke and just relax the rest of the day. I don’t have a schedule anything. I just freestyle whatever I do.

Q: Is there any behind-the-scenes content that you’d like to share?

A: As of right now I currently have 2 projects in the works. One is a collab project with a friend of mines who I am also in a collective with Terry Kunage, simply titled “Persona”.

The other project is just a solo project with beats that everyone can chill and listen to, im going back with titles like “Keep Calm’ Take Your Time” or simply call It Bump Sessions cause they all sound like it could be part of the Adult Swim Commercial Bumps, but we’ll see how it goes.

Thank you for your time, Akil! If anyone else is interested in being a part of this series, stay tuned for the official Google form that I’ll open up to the public at a later date.

Credit goes out to Nish & Kanovore for the lovely artwork featured in this interview.