Quotes from AJ Tracey

I used to send out emails to producers to collaborate and they'd give me nothing, not even a response. As soon as I started popping off, out they came!

I feel like the type of music I'm making and who I am, people expect me to do well, but not be in the main spotlight.

I have a personal relationship with Dizzee Rascal - I know him, he's cool - so this is no disrespect to him or any other British rappers who tried to make it in America, like Wiley and Tinie Tempah, but the type of music they were making to be accepted over there - it doesn't translate.

When it comes to politics, unless it's an issue that's really close to home and you feel strongly about, I just don't think you should really talk about it.

Some things you never really fully understand unless you are actually black and you experience how it feels when someone treats you differently based on your skin colour.

I like to draw from experiences in my past, but that alone is quite hard and complicated, because I don't want to say anything incriminating or too offensive, but I want to give people an insight into my life and how it was.

I'm not afraid to use my platform. I don't want to preach to people; I just want to put my opinions across about things I feel strongly about.

I never felt like I was in the grime scene. I was the outsider. So when I veered away from it, I didn't feel like I was leaving the circle - I felt like I was never in it.