Quotes from AJ Tracey

I thought, if a man has a girl's name and he's still scaring people, then maybe I should try doing it so I can be that guy.

Even if it's a song I know isn't gonna do that well, I'm dropping it as a piece of art, so I always want sick visuals to go with it.

I did the Labour thing because I wanted my community to be better off. I'm pretty sure people are aware of the kind of money I make. I'm not telling people to vote Labour to benefit me.

But just because I hate the Conservatives doesn't mean I'm gonna tell people to vote for the party I want. Inform yourself on what the parties stand for and make your own decision.

I'm the least animated person I know. Even on stage, I just walk across it.

People ask me, how was university; I say it was boring and it wasn't for me. But if you wanna go, that's cool. I'm not out to lead people astray, but everyone has their vices.

I'm a very vengeful person - if someone didn't wanna get on board with me and I'm doing it well I'm gonna rub it in their face.

People love to be U.K. music advocates but they don't wanna give other types of music a chance so it can be as popular as this one sound.

Everyone around me does music, so I just kind of knew. It wasn't some magical moment. There were loads of other things I wanted to do. I wanted to be a lawyer, for example, because I just love arguing, but it wasn't on the cards.

When I was in secondary school, I cared about nothing but music.

At school, when everyone would sell sweets and chocolate, I'd always take it that step further. I'd hustle as hard as I could to get the new Air Forces, to go and chill with the posh kids and the white girls who were around my area.

I like wearing the things from Japan, because they usually get a different collection than we do.

You can't dwell on disappointment. You've got to take the positives and keep looking ahead.

I want to showcase my talent, I'm not just a grime MC, I'm an artist.

In America, they don't need to look outside their country for anything, so they definitely don't need to look elsewhere for rappers with weird accents that they have to get accustomed to, which is like homework to them.

But for me it's loads of pressure. Like, my mum is a strong independent woman, but obviously she relies on me a little bit. My little brother has his own job but he relies on me.

A lot of elders don't really like me in music because they just think I'm a little cheeky prick and I'm arrogant. I'm definitely cheeky, I'm definitely a prick and I'm definitely arrogant.

I'm half-white and half-black. No-one will ever say I'm white, but all the road men think because I'm mixed race that I can't be bad because I'm light skin. It's crazy.

I have to give credit to my mum for my music taste. She's white and Welsh but she listens to dancehall, reggae, Reggaeton.'

For me, being independent is about being able to express myself exactly how I want to, instead of maximising profits.

Honestly, I always think it's cool when artists name their first album after themselves. It's confident it just means like this is me, this is my project, here you go.

Parklife is one of the festivals I most look forward to. The crowds are wild; I love seeing that energy, those sweaty moshpits.

As a kid, I loved Air Force Ones - but they were so expensive. I always had to save up for ages to get them. Now I can call the Nike guy and be like 'can you send me ten pairs?' and they'll be here the same day.

I don't love collabs just for the sake of collaborating. It has to be purposeful and it needs to sonically make sense.