AJ Tracey Is Running His Own Race With ‘Don’t Die Before You’re Dead’ | OneFootball

With the anticipation surrounding his next project growing, we take a look at AJ Tracey’s journey to Don’t Die Before You’re Dead.

AJ Tracey is someone who you might walk past down the street and not know who he is. The British artist has quietly climbed the ranks of the rap game through his independent hustle and laid back demeanor. But don’t be fooled. His tight flow, clever lyricism, and knack for collaboration have given him a decade-long career that deserves respect.

Tracey is preparing to release his third studio album, Don’t Die Before You’re Dead, on June 13. It’s a weighty title reminiscent of Drake’s line, “Everybody dies, but not everybody lives” from Nicki Minaj’s “Moment 4 Life.”

Tracey shed some light on the concept of his album in an interview last month with KISS XTRA.

“It’s not a riddle. It means exactly what it says,” he offered. “Don’t die before you’re dead. We’re all gonna die. So enjoy your life, live your life. That’s literally what it means.

“So for me, I took time off music. I enjoyed my family life. I enjoyed spending more time with my mom and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I just felt like there’s more to life than being consumed by this industry stuff.”

It’s been four years since Tracey released his last album. Even though 2021’s Flu Game was a tribute to Michael Jordan and his epic performance in the 1997 NBA Finals, the album was full of footy references. Tottenham even helped promote it by hoisting a banner on their stadium congratulating the artist.

Tracey has created hype for Don’t Die Before You’re Dead via three singles: “Joga Bonito,” “Crush” with Jorja Smith, and “Friday Prayer” with Headie One and Aitch. The Ladbroke Grove MC is already showing good range and a reminder for fans that he is an expert collaborator with a great ear for production. Unlike his counterpart Dave, Tracey hasn’t been as vocal about social justice issues or vulnerable about his own story, but he promised this music will be his most personal yet.

“Friday Prayer” shows Tracey’s desire and ability to connect with larger pop culture when he raps, “I’m cold like Cole Palmer on a pen.” Palmer is, of course, Chelsea’s superstar taking over the soccer world with his athletic prowess and shiver celebration. He and Tracey clearly both know the art of keeping things cool.

And despite being a Spurs fan, that’s not the only Chelsea tie that Tracey has with Don’t Die Before You’re Dead. In August, the club used “Joga Bonito” to announce the signing of Jadon Sancho in a loan from Manchester United. The opening verse, in addition to the track title itself, is chock full of football references and the Sancho clip ends perfectly with Tracey rapping, “Too many goals from central/We went to the party with gang and we led the attack” and a cut to the chorus where the rapper, speaking for the forward, declares, “Only thing you need is me.”

Even if Sancho has had a slow start at Chelsea, Tracey has aligned himself with greatness throughout his career. The Palmer reference on “Friday Prayer” is reminiscent of his line on KwolleM’s “Grandma’s Kitchen” where he opens his verse by saying, “I’m on track like Lewis,” comparing himself to seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton.

After making waves with “Naila,” Tracey also of course had 2016’s “Thiago Silva” with Dave. It’s a fierce track that paid homage to the Brazilian soccer superstar while boldly sampling  “Pied Piper” from legendary grime group Ruff Sqwad. The video has 62 million views on Dave’s YouTube channel, which is more than any Tracey has on his own.

The duo flew to Paris to shoot the video and they rep Paris Saint-Germain while trading bars about making rap money, Grand Theft Auto, and a pen game as strong as JK Rowling. It’s fun to look back nearly a decade later and see the hungry baby faces knowing that each rapper has had success in their own right.

So far in the rollout for Don’t Die Before You’re Dead, Tracey has done a great job reminding fans of his past highlights and bringing them into his present artistry. “Joga Bonito” clearly connects to “Thiago Silva,” even doubling down on the Harry Potter references with the clever “I slime guys out like Malfoy/But she love good (Lovegood), she a Ravenclaw.”

“Friday Prayer” with Headie One follows 2020’s “Ain’t It Different” from Headie’s EDNA album. The single also featured Stormzy and was a landmark showcase of some of the top artists in the UK rap game. With this collaboration, Tracey is showing that he is still authentically connected with the top dogs and continuing to elevate the craft. Not only is the song good, the whirlwind video is super cool.

Perhaps the bigger reunion was with Smith for “Crush,” a super vibey song with a grime beat that samples Brandy’s “Love Wouldn’t Count Me Out.” Tracey enlisted Smith on the 2019 hit “Ladbroke Grove,” which infused the joy of UK Garage with a dash of bravado and the singer’s angelic vocals all in an homage to the neighborhood where Tracey grew up.

“Crush” lived up to its predecessor, if not exceeding it. The song was all over TikTok and the duo performed it on BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge and The Jonathan Ross Show. Tracey holds his own with his signature gritty voice and lines like “I don’t wanna wear my heart on my top or sleeve/Unless it’s the CDG” for a fun little wordplay on the Comme Des Garçons logo. And he flexed in the video with a pink puffer coat reminiscent of Cam’ron’s iconic pink mink.

But Smith really stole the show. Tracey explained how his organic friendship with the singer led to her having the courage to spit some smooth bars in her Walsall accent. Typically, this accent is considered country and is made fun of. But Smith flipped it on its head and had the internet clamoring to imitate her. “You just wanna love me for…”

“She’s like, ‘I wanna rap.’ I said, ‘Cool, then. That’s it, rap,’” Tracey said in the KISS XTRA conversation. “I love when artists are doing something outside the box. So she done that and I was just like, ‘Yeah, bravo. This is going off.’ I remember just before we dropped it, she hit me, ‘I’m not 100 percent sure about my rapping.’ I told her, ‘Trust me, it’s going off. They’re gonna love your rapping.’ And she’s like, ‘Fine, I trust you.’ And then the rest is history.”

Besides being a great teammate, Tracey has carved his lane by a unique blend of utilizing the current sounds of the day while paying homage to his own influences. He dabbled in drill on “Kukoč” off Flu Game and his self-titled project had island vibes with “Wifey Riddim 3” and a touch of trap with “Double C’s.”

Where he’s really shined is putting his own spin on garage, bridging the lively genre that took over in the 1990s with his own flair. The two examples of this, “Ladbroke Grove” and “West Ten,” are some of his most popular songs that helped him cross over into the mainstream.

“Ladbroke Grove” is Tracey’s most-streamed song on Spotify with more than 270 million hits. He’s said that “Flowers” by Sweet Female Attitude was one of his favorites growing up and he and Smith got to perform it for BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge back in 2019 along with a rendition of their own song.

“West Ten” had its own shine too because it was a reunion with Mabel that had fans excited. And it was featured on the FIFA 22 Volta soundtrack.

Tracey said that unfortunately, we won’t get another garage track on Don’t Die Before You’re Dead. (Please excuse me while I shed a tear.)

“I always have like one wild card,” he said in the KISS XTRA interview, “… before it was garage ‘cause no one heard me on garage. But now that garage is obvious for me, I thought I’m not gonna put any garage on the album. Just because it’s so easy for me to go to that, I was just like, I’m not gonna go to that.”

But fans shouldn’t get too sad and, if anything, it’s admirable that Tracey wants to challenge himself. He said this album’s “wild card” is “an indie rock song” that he loves.

“It’s proper FIFA music,” he said. “It’s amazing.”

So, even though the soccer video game dropped the FIFA affiliation, maybe Tracey has a chance to reach footy fans yet again.

At this point in his life, Tracey is in his early 30s with radio hits and Premier League co-signs on his resume. He appears confident about the direction he’s going with for Don’t Die Before You’re Dead.

“I’m trying to live and do different things and not just rinse and repeat. ‘Oh this works so let me just do it again,’” he told the British radio station. “I think that’s too boring, man. Look, it might be to my own detriment. Maybe I would have made 10 million quid from dropping a garage tune with Jorja. I don’t know. But it’s not about that. It’s more about let’s make some good music that I’m proud of, that when I’m older, I’m gonna be like ‘Yeah, I’m glad I did that riddim.’”

Central Cee set the bar for British rap albums this year. Can’t Rush Greatness showcased his versatility, offering viral hits and a new sense of vulnerability. The project went No. 1 on the U.K. Official Albums Chart. We are still waiting for projects from Little Simz, Skepta and maybe (fingers crossed) Dave?

Tracey is joining the conversation by releasing an album this year with a decent amount of anticipation. But he is using Don’t Die Before You’re Dead to remind fans he’s running his own race.

“You know like when big footballers are at a small club and people are like, ‘Oh, why would he stay at that small club?’” he pondered on KISS XTRA. “Well, it’s because if he goes to Real Madrid and wins, they were gonna win with or without him. So is he really part of the progress? Whereas at a small club, he might not win. But if he does win, it’s solely because he was there. I just feel like I’d rather be that guy setting pace than the guy who’s just merging in with everyone else.”

And that’s called living.