‘Fame Is Not a Positive Thing’: AJ Tracey on Becoming a Household Name

“I’m a very revengeful person,” says UK rap artist AJ Tracey as we sit in a stark hotel conference room. Inside, nothing but a table and chairs. “There’s nothing wrong with that,” he says. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with revenge at all.” 

“Everyone wants equality, right? So you do me wrong, and I get you back, is that not equality?”

We’re talking about his latest release “Seoul”, a cutting, quick-paced track that spits odes to his own talent while taking hits at anyone questioning it. The line he’s referring to: I got a thirst for revenge / I'll quench it.

“Anyone and everyone who has done me wrong. Anyone that feels like today has done me wrong, there’s revenge for them,” he says.

It’s an ominous and vague threat to AJ Tracey ill-wishers out there, but is a piece of the conversation that underscores who the rapper is and what, exactly, he’s about. When he speaks, it’s with an honesty that most artists tiptoe around. He’s in the game but not there to play them.

Growing up in a musical family, alongside a DJ and club-owner mum and musician dad, AJ Tracey always wanted to be a rapper. But it wasn’t until he was sitting in the back of lecture theatres studying a criminology degree – bored – that he decided to pursue music full-time. It was all he could think about.

Though his family initially weren't supportive – his Trinidadian Grandma pushing him to be a lawyer or doctor – Tracey’s mum gave him a year. 

“She said try and be a musician and if it works, good, if it doesn’t you need to go back to uni or get a job,” he says.

“But to be honest, if people tell me I should act a certain way, I'll just do the opposite.”

Tracey subsequently went on to grow an ample following, uploading freestyles and songs to Soundcloud and Youtube, at times garnering millions of views. It wasn’t until his track “Thiago Silva”, with collaborator Dave, that he rocketed into the global mainstream. But when I put that statement to him, he doesn’t seem to agree that the song was his breakout hit. 

At the Sydney leg of his Australian show, “Ooooh, Thiago Silva” chants vibrated around the Enmore Theatre as he made his way through a set-list of newer material. “I’ve got one more song, and then I’ll get to that one,” he said, seemingly exacerbated. “Ladbroke Grove” boomed out across the stage, before finally landing on the coveted track. It was, obviously, the crowd's favourite.

Teams of young mulleted boys stood at the partition, waving their phones as Tracey moved across the stage, hopeful that from the bustle rapper would pick them from the bustle and take a selfie. 

“I'm always happy to take pictures,” he says. But if I could be unknown, and also everyone loves music and I still make money that'd be ideal.

Fame, according to Tracey, was never the driving force behind his output – just a by-product of the recognition for his talents. Though pre-show he tells me he loves his fans, particularly Australian ones – “The love is apparent. I'm very grateful,” – fame, for him, is not a positive thing.

“A lot of people want to be famous just so they can have a spotlight, but I feel like after you get a spotlight you understand that it's not a pleasant place to be. Because we're humans, we make mistakes.”

“You can be famous for the dumbest things. I get anxious quite a lot. So, for me, this whole thing is kind of a headache. ”

Despite that, Tracey says it’s lucky that he has a stubborn mentality. “Otherwise I’d be fucked,” he says taking it back to, “If someone tells me how I have to be, I just purposely don’t do it.”

When the suggestion of anonymity via MF Doom-style mask arises, he laughs: “Have you seen UK music? Everyone wears a mask.”

Though he may not be a fan of his fame, Tracey doesn’t deny that he wants to become a household name similar to his idols like 50 cent or Michael Jordan. But to him there’s a difference between fame, or being infamous, and a recognition of talent.

“I think respectfully, without being cocky, in the UK, I probably have a household name at this point, which is cool. Again, with the fame stuff, that's different,” he says. “Being a household name is cool if you're within your realm, like, ‘I like AJ Tracey’s music’, that makes me feel good.”

“In terms of being a household name, internationally, I'm not at that stage yet. But we're getting there.”

Follow Julie Fenwick on Twitter and Instagram.

Read more from VICE Australia and subscribe to our weekly newsletter, This Week Online.