Good Morning!
Today’s edition of The New Cue is a Lost In Music edition wherein we speak to UK hip-hop supremo DJ Semtex about his long career breaking some of the biggest rappers in the world. Because he’s such a good egg, Semtex has also compiled a bespoke playlist of some of his favourite hip-hop tracks right now especially for you, The New Cue readers. In fact, that’s the sort of treat New Cue subscribers receive every single Friday in the shape of star picks and shed loads of new music recommendations. Just click that button down there to sign up.
Enjoy the edition,
Ted, Niall and Chris
Lost In Music: DJ Semtex
Manchester’s DJ Semtex has been a stalwart of the UK hip-hop scene for over twenty years. Born John Fairbanks, as a DJ and label A&R he’s helped discover and launch the careers of countless soon-to-be mega-stars, from Kendrick Lamar and Drake to J Cole and Dave (Kanye West has even shown some rare magnanimity in the past and credited Semtex with helping break his career). He presented 1Xtra’s Friday night hip-hop show for 16 years, Spotify’s game-changing Who We Be podcast and for the past five years has been fronting a weekly show on Capital XTRA.
Semtex with Chuck D
In 2016, he put out a lavish coffee table book titled Hip Hop Raised Me which charted his journey through hip-hop and featured some amazing photos of some of the artists he’s interviewed and worked with over the years. Now, after decades championing and playing other people’s music, he’s started producing his own tracks. Featuring Ghanian superstar Kwesi Arthur and UK rapper BackRoad Gee, Floor Shake came out last month and it’s a proper banger:
Not only that, Semtex has also compiled this playlist specifically to turn you on to some of his favourite hip-hop tracks right now.
Here’s what he’s got to say about them…
Lil Uzi Vert
I Just Wanna Rock
“Already the biggest club banger of 2023. It was dope to see UZI close out the 50 year Hip Hop anniversary celebration with this banger.”
Ice Spice
Princess Diana
“An absolute banger by one of the hottest new artists.”
Black Sherif
Kwaku The Traveller
“In the same way that we talk about Kendrick, Cole, and Drake as the greatest rappers of this generation, Black Sherif will soon be added to this list. He is an incredible artist, much more than a rapper who is already setting a new standard for hip-hop from the African continent.”
Asake
Terminator
“You need to know about Asake. You need to know about Amapiano. An artist and genre that are here to stay.”
Rema
Bounce
“Rema is the future. One of the new generation of Nigerian artists that defies genres, re-writing the definition of what a pop artist is.”
Burna Boy ft. J Hus
Cloak & Dagger
“Burna Boy is the only artist to attain a Hus verse since 2020. The thirst for his forthcoming third album is incomparable.”
Kendrick Lamar
Saviour
“One of my favourite tracks by my favourite artist. Elite lyricism.”
J Cole
Procrastination (Broke)
“One of the modern day Rap Gods flips the definition of an internet concept. This was one of the coolest things any rapper has done [J Cole came up with the track by typing “J Cole type beat” into YouTube].”
Guvna B
Traffic
“One of the dopest UK Rap records out right now.”
Now, though, it’s time to hear more about DJ Semtex’s life in music…
What was your first job in music?
Being a fan. How can you work in music and not be passionate about it? I’ve never looked at music as a hustle. If I wanted to be rich, I’d be working in another industry altogether. I’m a fan of hip-hop first and foremost. I’ve done a radio show consistently every Friday night for the last 20 years. I’ve only taken two days off sick since in all that time. I’ve never taken it for granted or thought that the game owes me anything. It all boils down to the fact that you can’t do this unless you’re passionate about it.
What was your first DJ-ing gig?
I think it was someone’s birthday party. I just had the audacity to be like, ‘Yeah, I’ll come and play some records!’ I had the best record collection, again, because I was passionate about hip-hop. It grew from there, doing college parties then getting paid gigs, student events, doing clubs. One of my first gigs was opening for De La Soul in Manchester. It was crazy. I felt I had to prove myself to the crowd. It’s the same to this day. I go in with the intention to move the crowd. If you’re playing before one of the greatest groups of all time, it’s your duty to get it right. You’ve just got to get in, deal with it, get it right and make your mark.
With De La Soul on 1Xtra
What was your best job in music?
I’ve done a lot of great things and it’s difficult to say what’s better than the rest, but touring with Dizzee Rascal for eight years was amazing. That was a real education in what to do and how to work a crowd, regardless of the background. We supported Prodigy on tour and that really educated me on how to be versatile. When he played Glastonbury, I opened the show in front of 100,000 people. It’s the biggest crowd I’ve DJ'-ed to and you’re just there on stage with decks. That’s the only time I got a little bit nervous. You just have to take a deep breath and get on with it.
What was your worst job in music?
I’ve been pretty fortunate, there have been difficult times, but I’ve always managed to turn it around. Like, I’ve had awkward interviews, but I learned a long time ago that if someone is going to be difficult in an interview then I’m going to turn it to my advantage. Maybe not the worst job, but one of the most challenging things that I’ve done - and it’s also one of the best things that I’ve done - was DJ-ing my sister’s wedding. I did a five-hour set, it was amazing. I was playing everything. I did a Motown hour, I did a Manchester indie hour, I did straight-up pop stuff, hip hop, R&B. It was dope to see my family dancing. But five hours, keeping everyone on the dancefloor… yo, that was hard.
What are you most proud of in your career?
Just being part of hip-hop culture. If I bump into someone and they say I used to listen to your show or I saw you at this festival it’s always amazing. My book was a real achievement because it encapsulates everything that I’ve done. I had the privilege of being able to put my perspective on an art form that I love.
Interviewing J Cole on Carnaby Street
Do you feel proud when you see artists you championed in their early days go on to huge success?
Absolutely. It’s even more warming when they remember and reach out. J Cole always reaches out to me whenever he’s in the country because I was one of the first people to play his music. There’s always that special connection that I was part of the journey. It’s amazing to see that good things do happen and that hard work does pay off. I remember driving around Compton with Kendrick [Lamar] and he was talking about his frustration that Dr Dre wasn’t noticing what he was doing and then a year later Dre did reach out to him and signed him and then everything else happened. I was just this crazy English guy who had reached out to him on the off chance while I was in town. It’s fascinating to watch all that happen and unfold. It was the same with Drake, seeing him going from being this actor to being one of the biggest acts in the world.
With a young Kendrick Lamar in LA
What is the biggest regret of your career?
I think about this a lot. I could have started the DJ/producer thing earlier, but I didn’t, do you know what I mean? This latest record that I’ve done with Backroad Gee and Kwessi Arthur, for me, is incredible. It’s a UK rapper and it’s one of the biggest rappers from Ghana and that’s what I’m trying to do, I’m trying to make these moments that might not normally happen. I’m not trying to do the big smash and grab and go for the charts, I just want to do cool things that I’d play myself and hopefully they’ll catch on. It took all the experience and what I’ve done to get to this point, so I don’t have any regrets. The path is the path.
What’s something about your career that you think is overlooked?
I help a lot of people behind the scenes. I’m not looking for credit. There’s artists that I’ve helped out, I’ve given them a course and said, ‘If you stick to this, you’re going to achieve things,’ and whatnot, or I’ve helped people get singles together. But I don’t see that as something people need to know about. The way I see it, you do good things for people and then years down the line someone else will work with you because they know what you did for that person, they knew that you helped them out when nobody else was. The karma thing always comes around.
What’s been the biggest pinch-me moment?
Being in the studio with Kanye West. I’m going to take Chuck D’s stance on this where you can separate the man from the art because I don’t agree with anything that he’s said recently. I don’t agree with the antisemitism and all of the comments that he’s made. I really hope he makes amends for what he’s done, because from what I knew of him he was never like that. As an artist, for me seeing him in the studio as a label exec... I was with Mr Hudson and we were trying to finish this track and when Kanye went into the studio to record it was amazing. You hear stories about rappers not writing down lyrics and he didn’t do any of that, it was the track [2009 Mr Hudson single] Supernova and he just went in and started singing. I was like, ‘Oh shit, it’s happening...’ It’s bizarre to see something change from ten minutes before when he said he didn’t even want to do it. He came out and went, ‘OK let’s do another one…’ He just started rapping again and it became the track Anyone But Him. He made it all up on the spot. That was an incredible moment because I’d been a fan and interviewed him and opened some of his shows, but to see that in the studio… that’s never going to happen again because the person he was then is totally different to the person he is now. If you talk about pinch-me moments, that was definitely one of them.
What’s the hardest lesson you've learnt?
Trust your instincts. I was in an A&R meeting once and I was like, ‘I think this track is really big we should go for it…’ There was a so-called dance A&R guy there and he was like ‘Mmmm, it’s alright…’ I was like, ‘Oh, OK, maybe I shouldn’t go for it.’ It was Kid Cudi’s Day’n’Night!
There was another time I was in an A&R meeting, there was 12 people in the room and I played this track and was like, ‘I really love this track, there’s something about it..’ I played it and everyone around the room was like, ‘Meh, OK…’ So again, I didn’t pursue it, and then six months later I heard it on an advert and I was like, ‘I know this track… it was the track I played!’ It was Macklemore & Lewis’ [10 million-plus selling track] Can’t Hold Us. With stuff like that you’ve really got to trust your gut instinct and what you believe in. And don’t trust A&Rs!
What piece of advice would you give your teenage self?
Just carry on. It’s gonna be alright. I used to worry a lot, thinking, ‘Should I be doing this and should I be doing that as well?’ Then I saw Jay-Z in a meeting once and he had like 12 different hustles going on at the same time. I was like, ‘I’m not doing enough!’ I’d just tell myself to go hard.
CC