AJ Tracey: "I will not be making any more grime music"

In a new interview with The Guardian, the rapper described the scene as "a horrible culture"

In a new interview with The Guardian, AJ Tracey has laid out his thoughts on the current state of grime, the genre he came up through in the 2010s.

The UK rapper has today released second album ‘Flu Game‘, a record that sees collaborations with the likes of NAV, Digga D and T-Pain.

“Grime is not really lit any more,” AJ Tracey is quoted as saying in the piece. “It’s not what it used to be, and it’s their fault because [people in the grime scene] don’t like change. I was in there, I was open to change, I changed and I’m doing well. They did not want to change and it’s just crabs in a barrel.

“They don’t want to see anyone do better than themselves; it’s a horrible culture and I really don’t like it. I will not be making any more grime music … unless [scene veterans] P Money or D Double E asked me to.”

The West Londoner has been nominated for two Brit awards, and discusses his ascent, drill music and the discrepancy between rich and poor in his neighbourhood in the interview.

AJ Tracey also cites some advice he’d been given from Skepta: “He said it’s not good to have a solid end goal: you complete it and want the next thing, it’s not fulfilling. So I don’t want to sound like a hippy, but my goals are spiritual, mental and emotional fulfilment. I want to feel like I’ve changed people’s lives.”

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