The long-awaited debut album proper from west London grime star AJ Tracey underlines how little genre matters if you’ve got tunes and an audience hungry for your output.
Originally a grime MC, Tracey has already parlayed his London cachet on to an international platform with a series of EP releases that found him partying in hot climes in the videos. His genre-shopping LP does nothing to threaten this upwards curve.
Last year’s bit of foreplay, Butterflies, took Tracey to the dancehall and his dad’s native Trinidad, while the more recent Psych Out! finds him mumble-singing couplets over US pop-trap.
Tracey’s bouncy, sharp flow deserves better than poolside cliches, though. With the exception of Doing It, little here is straight-up grime. “Any riddim, any vibe I’ll adapt to,” he avers. The pensive Country Star features a shock acoustic guitar, but there are far better experiments – the garage track Ladbroke Grove, for one, is hard to resist.
Drake was an early adopter of Tracey’s, and this album’s versatility belies the Canadian don’s approach. The MC born Ché Wolton Grant is on fire, yet in some danger of losing his individuality.
