Ché Wolton Grant (born 4 March 1994), known professionally as AJ Tracey, is a British rapper and record producer from

Ladbroke Grove Ladbroke Grove ( ) is a road in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, which passes through Kensal Green and Notting Hill, running north–south between Harrow Road and Holland Park Avenue. It is also the name of the sur ...

, London. Tracey rose to popularity in 2016 and was listed by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' in a list of "best new acts to catch at festivals in 2016". Tracey's fifth extended play, ''Secure the Bag!'' (2017), became his first entry on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

, at number 13. His 2018 single, "

Butterflies Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

" (featuring Not3s), became his commercial breakthrough, peaking within the top 20 of the UK Singles Chart. His self-titled debut album (2019) was met with critical acclaim and peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart. Its lead single, "

", peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart and was certified

platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

by the BPI. AJ Tracey has released songs with recording artists such as Aitch, Big Zuu, Dave, D-Block Europe, Digga D, Giggs, Mabel, Mahalia, MoStack,

Skepta Joseph Olaitan Adenuga Jr. (born 19 September 1982), known professionally as Skepta, is a British grime MC, rapper, record producer and DJ. Alongside his younger brother Jme, he briefly joined Roll Deep before they became founding members of ...

and

Nelly Furtado Nelly Kim Furtado ( , ; born December 2, 1978) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold over 45 million records, including 35 million in album sales worldwide, making her one of the most successful Canadian artists. Critics have noted ...

Early life

AJ Tracey was born in

Brixton Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...

and raised in

. Grant's father, of African-Trinidadian origin, is a former rapper, and his Welsh mother is a former jungle DJ. He was named by his mother after the revolutionary

Che Guevara Ernesto "Che" Guevara (14th May 1928 – 9 October 1967) was an Argentines, Argentine Communist revolution, Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and Military theory, military theorist. A majo ...

. He has been rapping since the age of four. He was educated locally at Middle Row Primary school and went on to attend Holland Park School. He dropped out of a criminology course at

London Metropolitan University London Metropolitan University, commonly known as London Met, is a public university, public research university in London, England. The University of North London and London Guildhall University merged in 2002 to create the university. The Un ...

to pursue his music career. He is an lifelong supporter of Tottenham Hotspur. On 2018, AJ Tracey was included on the European edition of Forbes 30 Under 30.

Career

2011–16: Emergence and EPs

Under the stage names Looney and Loonz, Tracey's music can be found online dating back to June 2011. An early

SoundCloud SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...

account, Looney Tell 'Em, contains eleven tracks, each with free downloads enabled. These include four songs from the scrapped grime EP ''The Dungeon'' (featuring non-exclusive beats from Spooky and Rude Kid) and two songs from ''Didn't Make the Cut'', originally slated for release on the scrapped hip hop mixtape ''Fuck a Fairytale''. His debut mixtape, ''Didn't Make the Cut'', was released 13 September 2012, and comprises 21 UK rap and grime songs and freestyles which, in his own words, are "the tracks that didn't make it onto my actual mixtape". The project was initially to be titled ''Scirocco Musik'' and its artwork still reflects this title. In August 2013, his collective, My Team Paid, announced that they were to release a joint mixtape entitled ''My Team Paid''. One single, "Clouded Skies", emerged, but the project was ultimately scrapped. Tracey's second mixtape, ''No More Looney'', was released through DatPiff on 30 August 2014. The project includes thirty-three tracks, many of which feature fellow My Team Paid members Big Zuu, Jay Amo, Wax and Sketch. Tracey first gained attention through appearances on pirate radio stations and the release of his debut EP ''The Front'' in mid-2015. In December 2015, Tracey released his second EP ''Alex Moran'', which featured acclaimed tracks including "Spirit Bomb" and "Naila". BBC Radio 1Xtra DJ Sian Anderson also played "Swerve and Skid" heavily on her show during 2015, which was the first song of his that was on commercial radio. During this period, Tracey also recorded (but did not release) a trap EP entitled ''Rain''. In 2016, Tracey – a Tottenham Hotspur fan – appeared in promotional material for

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

coverage of the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

. He also collaborated with Dave over a remix of Ruff Sqwad's Pied Piper to create a well received track entitled "Thiago Silva".

2017–2020: ''Secure the Bag!'' and self-titled album

In October 2017, Tracey released his fifth EP, ''Secure the Bag!''. He also began producing records that year. He made his production debut on "LA4AWEEK", co-produced by Nyge and released in April 2017, and later produced label-mate Big Zuu's "Tell Man Twice", released in August 2017. In early 2018, AJ Tracey modelled for the OVO clothing line in 2018. In May 2018, Tracey released the single "

" featuring Not3s. The song served as AJ Tracey's commercial breakthrough, peaking at number 19 on the UK Singles Chart. The single was followed up with "Lo(v/s)er", which peaked at number 38. Tracey also featured on Craig David's album "The Time is now" collaborating on the track "Somebody like me". In early July 2019 the Swedish rapper released his platinum selling second album, ''Mer än rap'' ("more than rap"). Tracey was featured on the title track "More Than Rap". On 21 November 2018, Tracey announced the pre-order of his self-titled debut album, released on 8 February 2019. The lead single, "Doing It", was released for streaming and digital on the same day. Four more singles were released to promote ''AJ Tracey'': "

" featuring Not3s, "Psych Out!", "Necklace" featuring Jay Critch and "

". ''AJ Tracey'' debuted at number three on the

and is certified

Silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

by the

British Phonographic Industry BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) Limited, trading as British Phonographic Industry (BPI), is the British recorded music industry's trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards; is home to the Mercury Prize; co-owns the Official Charts C ...

(BPI). "Ladbroke Grove" became Tracey's highest-charting single peaking at number three on the UK Singles Chart. On 10 October 2019, Tracey announced the upcoming release of a deluxe edition of ''AJ Tracey'', to feature five new songs and a couple of surprises. The album was released on 25 October. On 14 February 2020, AJ Tracey announced his Australian tour starting in Adelaide on 24 April, but was later postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

2020–present: ''Secure the Bag! 2'' and ''Flu Game''

On 6 October 2020, Tracey released the tracklist for his sixth EP, ''Secure the Bag! 2'' on Twitter and was later released on 27 November 2020. The EP debuted at number 75 on the UK Albums Charts. On 4 February 2021, Tracey featured on the track "Bringing It Back" by Digga D. The song topped the UK Chart's Official Trending Chart and debuted at number 5 on the UK Singles Chart. On 16 April 2021, Tracey released his second studio album titled '' Flu Game'', which includes singles such as " Dinner Guest", " West Ten", "Anxious" and "Bringing It Back". Five hours prior to the release of the album, AJ released the single "Little More Love" as well as releasing a music video on YouTube. On 26 August 2021, Tracey was featured on the

Gorillaz Gorillaz are an English virtual band created by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett in London, England in 1998. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (gui ...

track "Jimmy Jimmy" from their '' Meanwhile EP''. In 2023, he received the Brits Billion Award by the

for achieving over 1 billion career streams in the UK, and released the fourth instalment in the ''Wifey Riddim'' series, his first track as lead artist since 2022. On 25 December 2024, Canadian singer

released "Showstopper" as fourth single from her album '' 7'', remixed and featuring Tracey. On February 12, 2025, Tracey and singer Jorja Smith released the single "Crush", which heavily samples American singer

Brandy Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured ...

's 2002 '' Full Moon'' album track "Love Wouldn't Count Me Out". The single peaked at number 23 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Tracey's highest peaking single since "Little More Love" peaked at number 21 in 2021. On May 20th, 2025, a new series starring Tracey and his cousin Big Zuu called "Big Zuu and AJ Tracey's Rich Flavours" was released on Sky Max. The 3-part show consisted of the pair travelling to

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, various parts of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Political views

In June 2017, Tracey endorsed Labour Party leader

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...

in the 2017 UK general election. In a Labour Party campaign video he said: "The Labour Party strongly support the youth in following their dreams and giving people a chance." He added: "In my opinion we need a Labour government to give young people a hope, a chance for their future and I genuinely believe that Corbyn is the man to do it." In an October 2019 interview with ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'', Tracey voiced concerns about

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

and said: "If I'm voting for anyone now it's the Green Party."

Discography

*'' AJ Tracey'' (2019) *'' Flu Game'' (2021) *''Don't Die Before You're Dead'' (2025)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tracey, AJ 1994 births Living people Alumni of London Metropolitan University Black British male rappers British dancehall musicians British trap musicians English male rappers English people of Trinidad and Tobago descent English people of Welsh descent English pop singers English record producers Grime music artists Labour Party (UK) people Rappers from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Singers from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea People from Ladbroke Grove UK garage musicians UK drill musicians British drill musicians