Although it's only been a year and a half since AJ's first release, The Front EP, it feels like his turn has now come. He might be sitting on his mum's sofa in his socks, but he's just appeared on a Clams Casino remix with A$AP Rocky and Lil B, has been bigged up by Drake, and is on the BBC Sound of 2017 list. We start off discussing the questions he's most used to answering: like where his name came from (a nickname from his younger days when being on road was a full time occupation) and where he was born (Central Middlesex hospital, "the same place as Dizzee Rascal"). Before settling in West London, Tracey moved all over the city. Born to a mum from Wales and a dad from Trinidad & Tobago, he tells me about experiencing a "different kind of racism"."Jumped off the roads 'cause my mum couldn't take it / Your chain man, couldn't say I couldn't take it / I get booked all over the world / And my PRS shits on your mum and dad's pay slips"
It might be as cold as Wiley's Morgue instrumental outside, but AJ's still buzzing from taking all his mates on an impromptu trip to Tenerife last week to shoot the new video for "Pasta", from his brand new EP Lil Tracey. "That was a milestone for me. Back in the day I used to be like, 'One day when I'm a rich rapper, I'm gonna take all my friends on holiday, I swear to God I'm gonna do it!' And the other day I was just like 'Mandem, boom! Everyone be at my crib I'm paying for all of you lot to go Tenerife, I'm paying for everything!' It was £100 a cab just to get to the airport. The villa cost like 3 grand for 2 days. All the people who hated me hate me 100 times more for that trip there."It seems like the expenditure was worth it, not least because we get to see his bromance with London MC Dave continue to blossom on camera. Although Dave is probably most known for "Wanna Know", a track that has since been blessed with a remix from Drake, he arguably broke out at the same same as AJ Tracey on their monumental collaboration "Thiago Silva", easily one of the best grime tunes of 2016. Individually, AJ and Dave are great MCs, but together they make an iconic duo. Their back-to-back bars over the trap inflected flip of Prince Rapid's "Pied Piper" is nothing short of spine-tingling."Not from the east, nothing ain't pearly / I'm from the west where the yats sniff Shirley / And everybody's got a home gym and a nursery"
With rare football shirts, a seemingly endless supply of trainers, and video shoots in France, Japan and the Canaries this year alone, Tracey looks like he's living the life most people his age (and a lot older) can only fantasise about. But what does an international new wave grime playboy do in his spare time? He tries to play it down, talking about Fifa, COD, eating at Boom Burger and playing pool at Mau Mau, but also can't help veering off into the sort of anecdotes you couldn't make up, like the time he went to Mahiki with Stormzy and ended up singing karaoke with Brian McFadden (of Westlife), or how he can no longer walk through Westfield without being repeatedly stopped for selfies. That said, his interest in the world goes far beyond his immediate surroundings."I made a vow to myself since Brexit, if I hear anyone say to any Eastern European people 'go home' or anything like that, I have to speak up. I'm not having it – that's horrible," he says. He also studied criminology at university. Despite not finishing, he says he learned a lot about what motivates people to break the law, and the difference between crimes that hurt people ("robbery, burglary") and the ones that don't ("corporate fraud against big companies, selling weed"). "I enjoyed it, but overall uni wasn't for me. I used to come in, say 'wagwan' to my mandem, chat to a couple girls and see if anyone wanted any drugs then bounce.""Call for the ting, looking like Han Solo / Make a man ooze up the middle like Rolo"
As we watch the sun go down on the blocks where Tracey cut his teeth, talk returns to these ends and how Tracey's music could put them on the map. The world is beckoning, and with some of the highest property prices in the UK, repping West London forever could be easier said than done. Is he in it for the long haul? Does he get scared now he's well known but still local? "I wanna leave the hood behind eventually," he says. "In the meantime, I think I'd rather take over the rent of this house and move my mum somewhere quiet. I love Ladbroke Grove, but everyone knows where I live."Before we leave, Tracey shows me his bedroom, although it's filled with so many clothes you could be forgiven for thinking he'd been sleeping in a walk in wardrobe or the Mr. Porter stockroom. Is this what happiness look like? "Even my mum said it to me - and she's not into superficial things at all – 'if buying Gucci sandals for £200 makes you happy and you've got the money, then go and do it'".He continues: "The only opinions that matter to me are close friends and my mum. People over there who know nothing about me just chatting shit? I don't care. That means nothing. It's hard for people to bring me down because I'm confident. I know what I'm worth, my mum loves me, I have a healthy family, my friends are all good, man just came back from Tenerife with a bunch of girls, you get me? I'm fine."You can find Fred on Twitter.All photos (except a still from the "Thiago Silva" video) by Jack Donlon."Anybody said he touched me? He lied / Man thought west was a joke, he tried / My block's just like a hornet's nest / Your block's sweet just like a beehive"