AJ Tracey - ‘Buying my mum a house will always be my proudest achievement’

How To Fail With Elizabeth Day

Sony Music

Society & Culture

4.8 • 9.4K Ratings

🗓️ 18 June 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Rapping phenomenon and Tottenham Hotspur superfan AJ Tracey joins us this week to talk about supporting his mum through her cancer journey, the pressures of staying an independent artist and what football has taught him about failure. AJ Tracey has been rapping since the age of four. He dropped out of his Criminology degree at London Metropolitan University and started uploading tracks to SoundCloud in 2011, achieving five Platinum singles and over two billion Spotify plays as an independent artist. His first studio album debuted at number three in the UK Albums chart and his breakthrough hit, Ladbroke Grove, became the unofficial summer anthem of 2019. Now, after a three-year hiatus, marked by leaked songs and pandemic delays, Tracey has just released his third album, Don't Die Before You're Dead. It’s his most vulnerable and personal work yet and as well as being a love letter to the UK, the album fuses grime, garage, and R&B with themes of trauma, mental health, faith and love. Elizabeth and AJ answer YOUR questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com All episodes in June are brought to you by @arlalactoFREE - all the taste, easier to digest. Listen to our bonus episode brought to by ArlaLactoFREE with Vicky Pattison here: https://link.chtbl.com/VickyPattison 🌎 Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code [howtofail] at checkout. Download Saily app or go to to https://saily.com/howtofail ⛵ Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan Mix Engineer: Matias Torres Studio Engineer: Gulliver Tickell Assistant Producer: Suhaar Ali Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot Executive Producer: Carly Maile How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Now, I believe wellness comes from the inside out, so you can do all the yoga or gym sessions
0:05.3	you like, but ultimately, what you eat is absolutely essential for feeling well and energized.
0:11.6	The thing is, my dream Sunday morning is probably a big bowl of yoghurt and berries,
0:16.0	followed by thick slices of cheddar on a hot buttered crumpet, and my cat Huxley then licks the plate.
0:21.7	What can I say? He's got great taste. But I'm also aware I can sometimes feel a little
0:26.0	discomfort when digesting regular dairy. This is where a lacto-free comes in to save the day.
0:32.5	You really don't have to compromise on your favourites because a lacto-free has a delicious range of dairy products
0:39.0	with all of the taste none of the lactose bringing joy and taste to healthy eating to find out more
0:45.7	go to lacto-free.co.uk. How to fail is proudly partnering with a laxo-free through June. Delicious
0:53.4	dairy with all the taste none of the lactose.
1:05.8	Hello and welcome to How to Fail.
1:08.7	If you haven't joined us before, then this is the podcast that
1:12.0	sees failure as a nudge from the universe in a different kind of direction. Every week, I ask a new
1:18.2	guest about three times they failed in their life and what, if anything, they learnt along the way.
1:23.7	So any teachers that are listening, please tell your students they can achieve something because
1:26.4	it really has a massive ripple effect actually.
1:28.3	That's my worst nightmare. Police coming to my mum's door was literally my worst nightmare.
1:31.3	That's like my love language. Looking after people is my love language. I'll be honest.
1:34.3	My guest today was born in South London, grew up in Labbrook Grove and has been rapping since the age of four.
1:43.3	He and his siblings were raised by a single mother
1:46.2	who was a youth worker and a pirate radio DJ,
1:50.7	instilling in her children both a moral conscience
	...

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