So, it has been just under 3 months since my last review, which is crazy really because I had a good start to the year and got a few different articles out, for example, ranking OutKast's discography as well as reviewing Kid Cudi's latest album and looking back at Cruger's underground cult classic The Lazy EP. Don't get me wrong, there has been some good releases since then but nothing really screaming out to me for a full review. I wanted to do Aj Tracey because way back when, my boy Amil reviewed his first album, so I thought another Aj review might be worth doing, see how he's progressed, see what his music's saying and so on so on...
5 minute read
Aj Tracey is one of them who has really taken off in the past few years, long gone are the days of being able to put people onto this low-key West London MC who can spitfire over grimey or trappy beats and come across a bit of a UK hip hop connoisseur. His last LP hit sky-high mainstream success that had 15 year olds across the nation vibing along to the smooth melodies of his Not3s collab, Butterflies, and skanking away to the summertime garage classic Ladbroke Grove.
And for me, I liked the first album. Don't get me wrong, there are some songs that I have since neglected, for example, I can't remember what the tracks Jackpot, Double C's or Horror Flick sound like, and I didn't check the deluxe edition when it dropped. However, there are still a handful of songs that I spin from that record to this day. That 6-track run from Country Star to Ladbroke Grove really was AJ peaking.
So jump 2 years down the line and here we have his second attempt, Flu Game. The first point I want to talk about from the jump is Eurostep. This is the filthiest song of the album BY FAR. It takes the crown as best track on the LP. From start to finish, (but particularly the second verse) AJ utilities this extremely detailed flow where every syllable is used to fill the bars perfectly. When Eurostep plays, faces screw. The beat is simple, but is a nice dirty, unclean backdrop for AJ to demonstrate his skills so nastily. There's a bit in the second verse where the drums drop out and AJ continues to flow, then they come back in and he's just landing on it perfectly when they do. Smooth, hard and a pleasure to listen to. This song is A1 and the album needed more of this.
I said the album needed more of "Eurostep", which is true, however, there is another song on the tracklist that is in a similar vein to Eurostep, and that is Bringing It Back featuring Digga D. I haven't heard much of Digga D but the energy he brings to this tune is refreshing. He sounds like he wants to be here, he rides the beat very well and his flow is powerful and emphasizes his lyrics nicely. His opening bars are probably the highlight of the track, listen to that flow there and just bob your head to it. Yeah, nice back to back tune, sick feature.
So yeah, I have spoken about some of the hardcore, bars on bars songs on this album and I expect these types of tracks from AJ. But, like the first album, he demonstrates versatility. There are different types of songs on this album. You have the harder tracks, but also the ones aimed for a catchier sing-song type of tune. This is good, of course you need that diversity in an album, however, I definitely think Flu Game did lose some of its melodic qualities, whereas his debut record never did.The second half of this album AJ goes for the melody-focused songs, for example Little More Love, Top Dog (which had a horrible, cheesy hook), but these attempts didn't land or hit the ear anywhere near as well as they did on the first album. The 6-track run from his debut album which I mentioned earlier had bars and catchy melodies and choruses. They never felt forced or unnecessarily repetitive, whereas on Flu Game I feel as though they definitely did at times, meaning there was a few tracks I just did not care for, so a few throwaways in my opinion that I'd have taken off. But fair play to AJ for trying to also make tunes that are more appealing and accessible, that's fine, I just don;t think they were anywhere on the level of say a Prada Me or Psych Out from the first record.
Before, I mentioned a bad-boy feature in Digga D, and another one was from MoStack. This guy had one of my fave features in a minute on the track 100k on Chip's last project. And he came through once again on Dinner Guest. So this is basically a house track with bars over it (again showing some nice versatility and switching the vibe a little bit) and HEAVILY samples that MK and Nightcrawlers track Push The Feeling On, which is a decent track in its own right if that's what you're in to. It's a shame AJ didn't wanna use the melody from the horns in that track because that is probably the best bit. But yeah, AJ and MoStack came through and performed well, it's a fun track that serves its purpose and I will certainly be returning to it. It is no surprise that this song already has 82m streams on Spotify.
Not all the features did it for me. I did like these tracks at first, but eventually both NAV's and Mabel's voices became slightly grating and boring. One other criticism would be that some of the football references felt a bit empty and pointless. AJ is known for "football" bars, and they usually are quite funny and smart, but I swear at one point he referenced Damian Duff on the track Summertime Shootout, a football player I had long since forgotten about, on a track with T-Pain lol. Although, there was a very very good bar on the track Cherry Blossom, probably my favourite bar from the album, "came from the mud and went straight to the top, you can tell 'cause I still got the dirt on my top", that bar landed and was really nice. That whole second verse from Cherry Blossom was enjoyable actually.
Overall, I think AJ made a good, solid record. At times I felt, despite the diversity in the types of songs he was making, the vibe, in general, remained on the same level. If it was a car, he was always within 3rd and 4th gear and it didn't really deter from that. The beats were all cool but none necessarily stood out (except Dinner Guest which was the house track sample). AJ is clearly someone who can flow and articulate how he feels in a confident smooth way with swag there in abundance. I just would've liked a few more changes of pace.
I will be back for his 3rd album whenever it drops, and like the first album, there are definitely a handful of tracks that I will return to and be playing again.
Star Track - Eurostep
6.5/10
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