AJ Tracey believes that willpower and belief in yourself can carry you far. You might have the talent, you might have the luck, but Tracey
thinks a little steel-girded faith can take you further than you ever imagined. In this case, the west London rapper is talking about the thrilling high-wire journey Tottenham Hotspur took to the Champions League final in 2019, but he might as well be describing his own career.
Tracey is one of the biggest breakthrough rappers of the past decade, the 31-year-old’s music a swaggering mix of UK garage, hip-hop and grime deftly filtered into a sound fit for mainstream pop. Tracey is the cheeky, charismatic showman at the centre of it all. He also just might be the most well-connected man in music when it comes to football. He’s friends with them all – a host of Premier League footballers take up room in his WhatsApp chats.
Take his favourite Spurs goal. Tracey was there when Heung-Min Son took on half the Burnley team, racing the length of the pitch, leaving stretched, weary defenders in his wake before scoring Spurs’ third in a 5-0 triumph in 2019 – a goal that would win the South Korean the FIFA Puskás Award the following year. Like many fans, Tracey knew he’d witnessed something special as the ball hit the back of the net. Unlike many fans, he was able to go to the dressing room and speak to the scorer about it after the game.
“I messaged someone at Spurs and I was like, ‘Listen, I’m in my usual seat. I’ve just seen that goal. After the game, I have to come and say something to him,’” explains the affable Tracey over Zoom on a sunny day in early August. “They were like, ‘No problem.’ Sonny was very humble and he said well done to me on what I’m doing and keep going, positive stuff, and I said to him that he was my favourite player and to keep smashing it and I was very happy to have him at the club. He’s a good guy.”
Like all Spurs fans, he was sad to see Son go. “You can’t replace him in terms of output,” he says, “but also he’s a megastar, so we need someone of the same calibre through the door. It’s gonna be tough.”
Tracey hardly had a choice in the matter of being a Spurs fan – his dad is from Tottenham and he was assigned his team (no returns) before he knew any better. His father had to get in quick, though, in case his Welsh-born mum got there first. “If she had a say, I might have been a Cardiff fan,” says Tracey. “But luckily not – sorry, Cardiff!”
As a kid growing up in Ladbroke Grove, Tracey would play football with his mates, trying to recreate Jermain Defoe goals. The fact that these days he’s actually pals with Defoe has not dimmed his fandom. “I was in Bodrum on holiday the other day and I bumped into him,” he says. “I haven’t seen him in ages and I saw him and my missus was shocked at how excited I was. She was like, ‘Who is this?!’ He’s a legend, a serious legend.”
Ask him to name the players he’s most friendly with and a very good seven-a-side team begins to take shape – James Maddison, Mousa Dembélé, Son, Eric Dier, Dominic Solanke, Destiny Udogie, Micky van de Ven (“Such a good guy. What a guy.”). He’s never averse to reaching out and forging a link. “A lot of them listen to UK music,” says Tracey. “It’s a mutual respect.”
Out of the current crop, the player he knows best is Maddison. On the day we speak, it’s just been revealed that the midfielder will miss the majority of the season with a torn ACL. “Madders is such a super cool guy. His family are lovely people,” he states. “He deserves everything. He won the Europa League and I hope he recovers well and gets to win something bigger.”
But the player he’s become closest to is Dele Alli. It’s a friendship that makes total sense. Both emerged around the same time, mercurial talents determined to make an indelible mark on their respective professions, two mavericks hell-bent on doing things their way. “He’s a good guy, he’s a lad, he’s cheeky, full of energy, full of life,” Tracey says. “The way he played on the pitch was how he lived his life. He’s very friendly, very forthcoming, but he’s also up for a challenge. He’s confident. We used to play Call of Duty together. We talk on WhatsApp all the time.”
Both have also had hurdles to overcome. Despite amassing over a billion streams and having two top-five albums in the UK charts, Tracey has had moments in his career when he’s questioned if anyone cared about his music, periods when he felt he wasn’t getting any support. He’s had to dig in and keep going. “It gets tough, we’re all human, there are good days and bad days, and you’ve just gotta ride the wave,” he explains. “But I’m super grateful – if you told me as a little kid I’d be where I am today, I wouldn’t have believed you. I’m over the moon. My mum’s happy, my missus is sweet, I get to follow my team around. I can’t complain.”
His most recent album Don’t Die Before You’re Dead came out in June, over four years after its predecessor, and Tracey is relieved to finally have it out in the wild. “I feel more comfortable now because holding back loads of music and not putting it out feels weird,” he says. “I don’t know why I was holding it. I think I’m a perfectionist and I want to make sure what I put out is as good as it can be, but also you have to remember that nothing is perfect. You can’t just wait for things to be perfect ’cos they never will be. I feel back in the mix, which is nice.”
While the album contains some of his trademark attitude, it’s also one of his most raw and vulnerable. It was all about being open and honest, he says. “I’m always gonna do some braggadocious bravado and what-not, but also it’s not all about boasting and talking about the things you have, the items you have. It’s also about making sure you leave a legacy and that people who are listening to your music can relate. That’s a key topic for me. Men’s mental health and making sure people feel they can speak about that is an important topic for me. It’s not any less manly for someone to speak about feelings. We all need to talk about it sometimes.”
Tracey still considers himself young but he is eager to help the next generation of artists break through. “I tap in with everyone I think is cool,” he says. “Giving praise and lifting people up is necessary, so when I hear someone new that I think is cool, I’ll reach out with no pride and say, ‘You’re cold.’” Some of his current favourites include Pozer, Jim Legxacy and Finessekid.
He thinks the UK possesses something special across the board. “We’re trendsetters and we’re ahead of the curve,” he says. “Whenever there’s new British actors, new British fashion, new sportsmen or sportswomen – obviously we just won the Euros – I’m always excited.”
One of Tracey’s first big breakthrough hits was Thiago Silva, his 2016 team-up with Dave, and the song’s impact has not been lessened by the fact that the defender went on to sign for Chelsea. “That wasn’t great. Now I’ve got a song about a Chelsea player!” he jokes. “But I’ve met him and he’s a lovely guy. He sent me a signed shirt. He’s a PSG legend so I’m happy for him regardless…”
“My mum’s happy, my missus is sweet, I get to follow my team around. I can’t complain”
But perhaps not as happy as he was one night in Bilbao in late May. As befitting a man with his contacts book, he flew out for the Europa League final on an official Spurs chartered plane, having a chinwag with the club’s Brazilian ex-midfielder Sandro on the way (“He’s hilarious!”) and heading to the fan zone before the game to gee up the crowd. Seeing his team finally win a trophy will live long in the memory, as will the heady excitement of the journey home. “Everyone was super gassed, drinks were flowing... It’s one of my core memories,” he beams. “As a 31-year-old Spurs fan who’s not seen too much, I deserve that!”
Tracey is trying to remain realistic about Spurs’ prospects for the season ahead. “Our squad is too thin for the Champions League,” he says. “An FA Cup win would be good. I hope the trophies keep flowing.” However, his chief focus is on keeping up the momentum with his career. He is not planning on another four-year hiatus.
“I’m gonna keep pushing the album and working that and then as soon as it’s time for new music, I’ll be dropping that and keeping it going. I’m not planning on going anywhere. If I go anywhere now, it’ll be for good.”
He’s seizing his moment back in the spotlight. Just like being a football fan, AJ Tracey knows there are good days and bad days. Right now, he’s back in business. He’s simply riding the wave to see where it takes him.
AJ Tracey believes that willpower and belief in yourself can carry you far. You might have the talent, you might have the luck, but Tracey
thinks a little steel-girded faith can take you further than you ever imagined. In this case, the west London rapper is talking about the thrilling high-wire journey Tottenham Hotspur took to the Champions League final in 2019, but he might as well be describing his own career.
Tracey is one of the biggest breakthrough rappers of the past decade, the 31-year-old’s music a swaggering mix of UK garage, hip-hop and grime deftly filtered into a sound fit for mainstream pop. Tracey is the cheeky, charismatic showman at the centre of it all. He also just might be the most well-connected man in music when it comes to football. He’s friends with them all – a host of Premier League footballers take up room in his WhatsApp chats.
Take his favourite Spurs goal. Tracey was there when Heung-Min Son took on half the Burnley team, racing the length of the pitch, leaving stretched, weary defenders in his wake before scoring Spurs’ third in a 5-0 triumph in 2019 – a goal that would win the South Korean the FIFA Puskás Award the following year. Like many fans, Tracey knew he’d witnessed something special as the ball hit the back of the net. Unlike many fans, he was able to go to the dressing room and speak to the scorer about it after the game.
“I messaged someone at Spurs and I was like, ‘Listen, I’m in my usual seat. I’ve just seen that goal. After the game, I have to come and say something to him,’” explains the affable Tracey over Zoom on a sunny day in early August. “They were like, ‘No problem.’ Sonny was very humble and he said well done to me on what I’m doing and keep going, positive stuff, and I said to him that he was my favourite player and to keep smashing it and I was very happy to have him at the club. He’s a good guy.”
Like all Spurs fans, he was sad to see Son go. “You can’t replace him in terms of output,” he says, “but also he’s a megastar, so we need someone of the same calibre through the door. It’s gonna be tough.”
Tracey hardly had a choice in the matter of being a Spurs fan – his dad is from Tottenham and he was assigned his team (no returns) before he knew any better. His father had to get in quick, though, in case his Welsh-born mum got there first. “If she had a say, I might have been a Cardiff fan,” says Tracey. “But luckily not – sorry, Cardiff!”
As a kid growing up in Ladbroke Grove, Tracey would play football with his mates, trying to recreate Jermain Defoe goals. The fact that these days he’s actually pals with Defoe has not dimmed his fandom. “I was in Bodrum on holiday the other day and I bumped into him,” he says. “I haven’t seen him in ages and I saw him and my missus was shocked at how excited I was. She was like, ‘Who is this?!’ He’s a legend, a serious legend.”
Ask him to name the players he’s most friendly with and a very good seven-a-side team begins to take shape – James Maddison, Mousa Dembélé, Son, Eric Dier, Dominic Solanke, Destiny Udogie, Micky van de Ven (“Such a good guy. What a guy.”). He’s never averse to reaching out and forging a link. “A lot of them listen to UK music,” says Tracey. “It’s a mutual respect.”
Out of the current crop, the player he knows best is Maddison. On the day we speak, it’s just been revealed that the midfielder will miss the majority of the season with a torn ACL. “Madders is such a super cool guy. His family are lovely people,” he states. “He deserves everything. He won the Europa League and I hope he recovers well and gets to win something bigger.”
But the player he’s become closest to is Dele Alli. It’s a friendship that makes total sense. Both emerged around the same time, mercurial talents determined to make an indelible mark on their respective professions, two mavericks hell-bent on doing things their way. “He’s a good guy, he’s a lad, he’s cheeky, full of energy, full of life,” Tracey says. “The way he played on the pitch was how he lived his life. He’s very friendly, very forthcoming, but he’s also up for a challenge. He’s confident. We used to play Call of Duty together. We talk on WhatsApp all the time.”
Both have also had hurdles to overcome. Despite amassing over a billion streams and having two top-five albums in the UK charts, Tracey has had moments in his career when he’s questioned if anyone cared about his music, periods when he felt he wasn’t getting any support. He’s had to dig in and keep going. “It gets tough, we’re all human, there are good days and bad days, and you’ve just gotta ride the wave,” he explains. “But I’m super grateful – if you told me as a little kid I’d be where I am today, I wouldn’t have believed you. I’m over the moon. My mum’s happy, my missus is sweet, I get to follow my team around. I can’t complain.”
His most recent album Don’t Die Before You’re Dead came out in June, over four years after its predecessor, and Tracey is relieved to finally have it out in the wild. “I feel more comfortable now because holding back loads of music and not putting it out feels weird,” he says. “I don’t know why I was holding it. I think I’m a perfectionist and I want to make sure what I put out is as good as it can be, but also you have to remember that nothing is perfect. You can’t just wait for things to be perfect ’cos they never will be. I feel back in the mix, which is nice.”
While the album contains some of his trademark attitude, it’s also one of his most raw and vulnerable. It was all about being open and honest, he says. “I’m always gonna do some braggadocious bravado and what-not, but also it’s not all about boasting and talking about the things you have, the items you have. It’s also about making sure you leave a legacy and that people who are listening to your music can relate. That’s a key topic for me. Men’s mental health and making sure people feel they can speak about that is an important topic for me. It’s not any less manly for someone to speak about feelings. We all need to talk about it sometimes.”
Tracey still considers himself young but he is eager to help the next generation of artists break through. “I tap in with everyone I think is cool,” he says. “Giving praise and lifting people up is necessary, so when I hear someone new that I think is cool, I’ll reach out with no pride and say, ‘You’re cold.’” Some of his current favourites include Pozer, Jim Legxacy and Finessekid.
He thinks the UK possesses something special across the board. “We’re trendsetters and we’re ahead of the curve,” he says. “Whenever there’s new British actors, new British fashion, new sportsmen or sportswomen – obviously we just won the Euros – I’m always excited.”
One of Tracey’s first big breakthrough hits was Thiago Silva, his 2016 team-up with Dave, and the song’s impact has not been lessened by the fact that the defender went on to sign for Chelsea. “That wasn’t great. Now I’ve got a song about a Chelsea player!” he jokes. “But I’ve met him and he’s a lovely guy. He sent me a signed shirt. He’s a PSG legend so I’m happy for him regardless…”
“My mum’s happy, my missus is sweet, I get to follow my team around. I can’t complain”
But perhaps not as happy as he was one night in Bilbao in late May. As befitting a man with his contacts book, he flew out for the Europa League final on an official Spurs chartered plane, having a chinwag with the club’s Brazilian ex-midfielder Sandro on the way (“He’s hilarious!”) and heading to the fan zone before the game to gee up the crowd. Seeing his team finally win a trophy will live long in the memory, as will the heady excitement of the journey home. “Everyone was super gassed, drinks were flowing... It’s one of my core memories,” he beams. “As a 31-year-old Spurs fan who’s not seen too much, I deserve that!”
Tracey is trying to remain realistic about Spurs’ prospects for the season ahead. “Our squad is too thin for the Champions League,” he says. “An FA Cup win would be good. I hope the trophies keep flowing.” However, his chief focus is on keeping up the momentum with his career. He is not planning on another four-year hiatus.
“I’m gonna keep pushing the album and working that and then as soon as it’s time for new music, I’ll be dropping that and keeping it going. I’m not planning on going anywhere. If I go anywhere now, it’ll be for good.”
He’s seizing his moment back in the spotlight. Just like being a football fan, AJ Tracey knows there are good days and bad days. Right now, he’s back in business. He’s simply riding the wave to see where it takes him.
AJ Tracey believes that willpower and belief in yourself can carry you far. You might have the talent, you might have the luck, but Tracey
thinks a little steel-girded faith can take you further than you ever imagined. In this case, the west London rapper is talking about the thrilling high-wire journey Tottenham Hotspur took to the Champions League final in 2019, but he might as well be describing his own career.
Tracey is one of the biggest breakthrough rappers of the past decade, the 31-year-old’s music a swaggering mix of UK garage, hip-hop and grime deftly filtered into a sound fit for mainstream pop. Tracey is the cheeky, charismatic showman at the centre of it all. He also just might be the most well-connected man in music when it comes to football. He’s friends with them all – a host of Premier League footballers take up room in his WhatsApp chats.
Take his favourite Spurs goal. Tracey was there when Heung-Min Son took on half the Burnley team, racing the length of the pitch, leaving stretched, weary defenders in his wake before scoring Spurs’ third in a 5-0 triumph in 2019 – a goal that would win the South Korean the FIFA Puskás Award the following year. Like many fans, Tracey knew he’d witnessed something special as the ball hit the back of the net. Unlike many fans, he was able to go to the dressing room and speak to the scorer about it after the game.
“I messaged someone at Spurs and I was like, ‘Listen, I’m in my usual seat. I’ve just seen that goal. After the game, I have to come and say something to him,’” explains the affable Tracey over Zoom on a sunny day in early August. “They were like, ‘No problem.’ Sonny was very humble and he said well done to me on what I’m doing and keep going, positive stuff, and I said to him that he was my favourite player and to keep smashing it and I was very happy to have him at the club. He’s a good guy.”
Like all Spurs fans, he was sad to see Son go. “You can’t replace him in terms of output,” he says, “but also he’s a megastar, so we need someone of the same calibre through the door. It’s gonna be tough.”
Tracey hardly had a choice in the matter of being a Spurs fan – his dad is from Tottenham and he was assigned his team (no returns) before he knew any better. His father had to get in quick, though, in case his Welsh-born mum got there first. “If she had a say, I might have been a Cardiff fan,” says Tracey. “But luckily not – sorry, Cardiff!”
As a kid growing up in Ladbroke Grove, Tracey would play football with his mates, trying to recreate Jermain Defoe goals. The fact that these days he’s actually pals with Defoe has not dimmed his fandom. “I was in Bodrum on holiday the other day and I bumped into him,” he says. “I haven’t seen him in ages and I saw him and my missus was shocked at how excited I was. She was like, ‘Who is this?!’ He’s a legend, a serious legend.”
Ask him to name the players he’s most friendly with and a very good seven-a-side team begins to take shape – James Maddison, Mousa Dembélé, Son, Eric Dier, Dominic Solanke, Destiny Udogie, Micky van de Ven (“Such a good guy. What a guy.”). He’s never averse to reaching out and forging a link. “A lot of them listen to UK music,” says Tracey. “It’s a mutual respect.”
Out of the current crop, the player he knows best is Maddison. On the day we speak, it’s just been revealed that the midfielder will miss the majority of the season with a torn ACL. “Madders is such a super cool guy. His family are lovely people,” he states. “He deserves everything. He won the Europa League and I hope he recovers well and gets to win something bigger.”
But the player he’s become closest to is Dele Alli. It’s a friendship that makes total sense. Both emerged around the same time, mercurial talents determined to make an indelible mark on their respective professions, two mavericks hell-bent on doing things their way. “He’s a good guy, he’s a lad, he’s cheeky, full of energy, full of life,” Tracey says. “The way he played on the pitch was how he lived his life. He’s very friendly, very forthcoming, but he’s also up for a challenge. He’s confident. We used to play Call of Duty together. We talk on WhatsApp all the time.”
Both have also had hurdles to overcome. Despite amassing over a billion streams and having two top-five albums in the UK charts, Tracey has had moments in his career when he’s questioned if anyone cared about his music, periods when he felt he wasn’t getting any support. He’s had to dig in and keep going. “It gets tough, we’re all human, there are good days and bad days, and you’ve just gotta ride the wave,” he explains. “But I’m super grateful – if you told me as a little kid I’d be where I am today, I wouldn’t have believed you. I’m over the moon. My mum’s happy, my missus is sweet, I get to follow my team around. I can’t complain.”
His most recent album Don’t Die Before You’re Dead came out in June, over four years after its predecessor, and Tracey is relieved to finally have it out in the wild. “I feel more comfortable now because holding back loads of music and not putting it out feels weird,” he says. “I don’t know why I was holding it. I think I’m a perfectionist and I want to make sure what I put out is as good as it can be, but also you have to remember that nothing is perfect. You can’t just wait for things to be perfect ’cos they never will be. I feel back in the mix, which is nice.”
While the album contains some of his trademark attitude, it’s also one of his most raw and vulnerable. It was all about being open and honest, he says. “I’m always gonna do some braggadocious bravado and what-not, but also it’s not all about boasting and talking about the things you have, the items you have. It’s also about making sure you leave a legacy and that people who are listening to your music can relate. That’s a key topic for me. Men’s mental health and making sure people feel they can speak about that is an important topic for me. It’s not any less manly for someone to speak about feelings. We all need to talk about it sometimes.”
Tracey still considers himself young but he is eager to help the next generation of artists break through. “I tap in with everyone I think is cool,” he says. “Giving praise and lifting people up is necessary, so when I hear someone new that I think is cool, I’ll reach out with no pride and say, ‘You’re cold.’” Some of his current favourites include Pozer, Jim Legxacy and Finessekid.
He thinks the UK possesses something special across the board. “We’re trendsetters and we’re ahead of the curve,” he says. “Whenever there’s new British actors, new British fashion, new sportsmen or sportswomen – obviously we just won the Euros – I’m always excited.”
One of Tracey’s first big breakthrough hits was Thiago Silva, his 2016 team-up with Dave, and the song’s impact has not been lessened by the fact that the defender went on to sign for Chelsea. “That wasn’t great. Now I’ve got a song about a Chelsea player!” he jokes. “But I’ve met him and he’s a lovely guy. He sent me a signed shirt. He’s a PSG legend so I’m happy for him regardless…”
“My mum’s happy, my missus is sweet, I get to follow my team around. I can’t complain”
But perhaps not as happy as he was one night in Bilbao in late May. As befitting a man with his contacts book, he flew out for the Europa League final on an official Spurs chartered plane, having a chinwag with the club’s Brazilian ex-midfielder Sandro on the way (“He’s hilarious!”) and heading to the fan zone before the game to gee up the crowd. Seeing his team finally win a trophy will live long in the memory, as will the heady excitement of the journey home. “Everyone was super gassed, drinks were flowing... It’s one of my core memories,” he beams. “As a 31-year-old Spurs fan who’s not seen too much, I deserve that!”
Tracey is trying to remain realistic about Spurs’ prospects for the season ahead. “Our squad is too thin for the Champions League,” he says. “An FA Cup win would be good. I hope the trophies keep flowing.” However, his chief focus is on keeping up the momentum with his career. He is not planning on another four-year hiatus.
“I’m gonna keep pushing the album and working that and then as soon as it’s time for new music, I’ll be dropping that and keeping it going. I’m not planning on going anywhere. If I go anywhere now, it’ll be for good.”
He’s seizing his moment back in the spotlight. Just like being a football fan, AJ Tracey knows there are good days and bad days. Right now, he’s back in business. He’s simply riding the wave to see where it takes him.
