Alexandra Palace, LondonAlready a force in grime, the rapper who went mainstream this year with single Ladbroke Grove, is full of self-belief in a sell out show featuring Dave and Skepta
‘Can I come to someones house for dinner tonight I spent all my money on ally pally production,” AJ Tracey tweeted on 11 October, four weeks before his biggest headlining shows to date. Fans duly fell over themselves to invite him to their evening meal, just as the west
London MC, who has not been undersupplied with confidence, knew they would. More telling proof of his stature, though, comes at the first of two officially sold out (unofficially, there’s room at the back) Alexandra Palace sets.
Already a force in grime, Tracey – born Ché Wolton Grant – has spent 2019 diversifying and going mainstream with garage track Ladbroke Grove, an irresistibly hooky Top 3 single that has just marked its 36th week in the charts. Three more songs recently reached the Top 40 and his self-titled debut album hit No 3. Accordingly, tonight’s crowd is comprised not just of old hands who were there in 2015, when his quickfire, Skepta-inspired flow began attracting attention, but of suburban teenagers who came onboard this year. It’s for both groups that Tracey has “spent all my money”, turning a rap set into a sensory binge. There are acid trip graphics, a spoof 1950s
BBC information film, pole dancers and even some minor pyrotechnics. A visitor identified as “my jeweller” comes on stage to present a bulky pendant to Tracey, with “Ladbroke Grove” spelled out in diamonds. He hands it over with a reverence that the rapper does nothing to discourage.