AJ Tracey’s Third Studio Album 'Don't Die Before You're Dead'

I was invited to AJ Tracey’s album launch at Maida Vale Studios the other week. Family, close friends, some press. The front row was MTP. It felt close. You could see how much it meant to him and to the people around him.

We don’t often hear music like this in a room anymore with a live band, 1, 2, 3 testing. Not from a speaker, not through headphones - just shared, live in a room with people. It changes how you take it in and also how you remember the music.

Don’t Die Before You’re Dead isn’t built around a single moment. It’s full of things that have taken time to figure out. You can hear that across the album not just in what he says, but how he’s decided to say it.

Third Time Lucky isn’t the opener, but it’s the one that stayed with me. The production sets you up for one thing - maybe heartbreak? But then AJ takes it somewhere else. It’s about his mum. About what it takes to get through something that doesn’t ease up.

There’s a line: “They say the strongest are chosen for the hardest battles, and she shone bright even in her darkest hours.” He said he had to name what he was dealing with in order to understand it. That’s what this song does. There’s pain in it, but also clarity.

He’s also using it to support Maggie’s Centres - £1 from every Third Time Lucky CD and keyring goes to the charity, which supports people living with cancer. It’s not highlighted as a campaign. It’s just something he’s done.

That quiet decision-making shows up across the album rollout. One example was the Deliveroo collab - fans could order a hard copy to their door. A physical version of the album in a moment where barely anyone buys music that way. But it worked and bought back a certain nostalgic feeling of hard copies.

It’s been four years since Flu Game. At the launch, DJ Target asked him why he waited. AJ joked first, then said what he really meant: he didn’t want to just release music. He wanted it to sound complete. Like it still made sense six months later.

That mindset comes through in the structure. The edits, the sequencing, the space. It’s not crowded. There’s room to hear him clearly.

West Life is one of those moments. He’s working through something - a relationship, the tension between closeness and independence. “Needed a TLC but she left I / Our destiny never had a child but she came from the south and I from the west life.”

He later said that being around friends constantly can feel toxic. That when he’s with someone he actually cares about, he wants it to be soft. That kind of reflection doesn’t show up often. Especially in rap.

You hear it again in Crush with Jorja Smith. She gives the track its tone - calm, grounded, not dressed up. It sounds like a memory more than a moment and let's be honest that accent - gorgeous!

Not every track stays in that headspace. Jeff Hardy is sharper, darker. Joga Bonito has more bounce the kind of record built for playback.

Paid in Full brings it back to where it all started. Big Zuu, Wax, Ets, D7. Friends as much as collaborators. It doesn’t feel like a grab for reach. It’s the kind of record you make with people who know how you move.

One of the final tracks the collaboration with Master Peace - pulls the album into different territory. At first, it sounds like it belongs to another genre, another type of project. But it lands.

AJ hasn’t stepped away from who he is. But he’s clearly decided what kind of artist he wants to be now. He’s made space for that here - with time, and with control.