The long-awaited debut album proper from west London grime star <person>AJ Tracey</person> underlines how little genre matters if you’ve got tunes and an audience hungry for your output.
Originally a grime MC, <person>Tracey</person> 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 <person>Tracey</person> to the dancehall and his dad’s native Trinidad, while the more recent Psych Out! finds him mumble-singing couplets over US pop-trap.
<person>Tracey</person>’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.
<person>Drake</person> was an early adopter of <person>Tracey</person>’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.