AJ Tracey's the quick-witted grime MC heading for international stardom
He's had props from Drake, now he's going towards the big time
“My mum bought me Lethal B’s ‘Pow’ on vinyl when I was a kid,” explains AJ Tracey when we ask him about about his memories of grime the first time around. “She owed me one nice thing that she’d never usually agree to buy me, because I’d been good. But once she heard the lyrics she tried to take it off me again!”
A proud West Londoner, AJ is spearheading a new generation of grime spitters taking their sound way beyond the reaches of the UK capital. Earning his stripes on the city’s online and pirate radio stations in early 2015, his persona — think quick-witted, sharp lyricism, unrivalled on-mic clarity and impenetrable self-confidence — has catapulted him to underground, and now increasingly international, stardom.
If his first EP, ‘The Front’, first alerted the wider grime scene to his talents, his second, ‘Alex Moran’, solidified his status as one of the UK’s most exciting new artists. Singles ‘Naila’ (the beat also used by Kano on ‘Garage Skank’), and ‘Spirit Bomb’ quickly became anthems. “To be honest, I was writing at the same rate back then as I am now”, he says. “I had an idea people would feel me once I touched radio, but I didn’t think it’d all happen this quickly.”
Fast-forward another six months and AJ has recorded collaborations with iconic US rap producer Clams Casino and A$AP Rocky, worked with good friend Santan Dave (see the brilliant ‘Thiago Silva’) and Garage legend MJ Cole, earned a shout out from Drake on his OVO Radio show, toured the US and Asia, as well as playing shows and festivals right across Europe. “My ‘Packages’ video on Link Up TV has had over two million views as well”, he reminds us, with a steely conviction. But at this rate, that might start to look like small fry very, very soon.
Hs third, self-released EP, ‘Lil Tracey’, is out in December and if first single ‘Buster Cannon’, is anything to go by, will land as his most resounding statement yet. “The whole thing is very mad”, he tells us with a laugh; “But that’s all I can say for now.”
