As Serious As Cancer

By DJ Semtex

"It's hard to believe I'm doing this," DJ Semtex opens his book. "I never considered for one moment that I would be writing about an experience like this." As an acclaimed DJ, producer and radio host, he spent years telling other people's stories, now it's time to tell his. As Serious as Cancer is an unflinching portrait of the man behind the decks and his unexpected face-off with the C-word.

"All I know is I've never faced anything as serious as cancer before." - DJ Semtex

"I got a question as serious as cancer," Rakim raps on his iconic 1987 album Paid in Full. Semtex leans on the popularised hip hop trope in his tell-all: When you've got everything going for you, what do you do when one word turns your whole world upside down? The book charts the four-month period in early 2023 from a sudden concerning discovery to his diagnosis with kidney cancer, treatment and finally recovery. Semtex takes us on this journey with a gut-wrenching honesty and searing specificity that will resonate with anyone whose life has been touched by the disease and move even those who have not been personally affected by it.

Semtex reflects on his past, family, career, the National Health Service that saved his life and hip hop's relationship with cancer. But above all, As Serious as Cancer is an exploration of the self. Vulnerable, insightful and compelling, Semtex ponders finding yourself face-to-face with your own mortality – "The darkest cloud over a life that I had worked so hard to build and still many more dreams to pursue." He details the mental anguish and physical toll of figuring your way out of a health crisis; Navigating your life's work and treatment – and how ultimately passion is the greatest medicine for despair. At its core, As Serious as Cancer is about resilience and the indomitable human spirit. "I had no intention of giving up," he writes, "I wasn't ready to die, I was ready to live."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Seminal Sound
• Release date: Jul 31, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223111443

Book preview

IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE I’m doing this: working on an intro for a book called As Serious As Cancer. I never considered for one moment that I would be writing about an experience like this.

I know pain. I have lived with it from birth, all the way through childhood to my teenage years.

When I was 15 years-old, I had my right arm amputated due to lymphangioma, a rare condition that affects the lymphatic system. I was relieved to see my arm go, truthfully. Actually, I was thankful. I wanted a final operation to end the constant hospital visits: the operations, skin grafts, stitches, scars and the frequent blood tests which I had endured from the very first day of my existence. I wanted all these things to end.

Years later, I’m living life. I’m pursuing my dreams doing everything I have ever envisioned. Nothing can stop me. Literally. I’m all the way up, doing things I never imagined I could do. Aside from the scars that remain, the childhood years of pain are distant memories, almost like they don’t exist. As if they were moments from an alternate reality, or someone else’s life.

It’s not that I’ve forgotten. I’ve just moved on. 

Until February 8th 2023.

That was the day I discovered the first indication that I had cancer. I thought I was dead. I thought it was the end. The fear paralysed me in a way that I have never experienced before. The diagnosis that I had cancer in my right kidney was a heart dropping reality check. I had no idea what to expect. I just knew it was bad. The darkest cloud over a life that I had worked so hard to build when I still so many more dreams to pursue.

As a DJ I’ve spent years telling the stories of thousands of people through interviews, radio shows and podcasts. This one is my own personal story; it’s a micro memoir. I could have expanded the concept and written a longer book, possibly included similar stories from other people, but at the time of writing this, I just felt that I needed to get these words out as soon as possible. This was my therapy, my road to closure.

I wrote this book for several reasons; to encourage people to get medical attention immediately if they experience similar health issues: to be transparent and hopefully provide some kind of insight into my experience enduring a cancer diagnosis: and to pay tribute to the amazing care and attention that I received from the incredible National Health Service.

My first book, Hip Hop Raised Me, was a lifetime in the making; this book focuses on events that happened across a four-month period in the early part of 2023. I’m a strong person, resilient to adversity and used to pain, but the cancer diagnosis turned my world upside down, it completely knocked me off balance. I don’t think there was anything that could have prepared me for the mental adversity that followed. I’m still processing what happened, I’m still trying to make sense of it all, and will do years from now. From what I know or have read, everyone’s individual experience with cancer is different and uniquely personal. I have known friends that have overcome it several times, I have had friends that have died from it. I know people who are apprehensive about saying the word or being tested for it. There is absolutely nothing positive associated with the word cancer. There is no constructive way to discuss its place within the world.

Having been through what I’ve been through I still find it hard to talk about the condition, I’m still apprehensive about reflecting on what happened.

It was much easier to put it all into words.

MY BROTHER INTRODUCED me to Hip Hop culture when I was 13 years-old and I’ve been a diehard fan ever since. I’ve heard the line ‘Serious as cancer’ frequently throughout my journey as a DJ and broadcaster. It has been used as a metaphor across many rap records since the 1980s and more recently by the US rapper Dave East in 2018. It’s possibly the only relevant aspect of Hip Hop culture that could be linked to a book about a cancer diagnosis.

Rakim is one of the greatest rappers of all time. He has inspired generations of iconic artists such as Jay Z, Nas, The Wu-Tang Clan, Eminem and 50 Cent. One of the first albums I ever bought was the 1987 classic Paid In Full by Eric B & Rakim. The beats, rhymes and scratches captivated me, they drew me deeper into the culture of Hip Hop. On track one, ‘I Ain’t No Joke’, Rakim says, ‘I got a question, as serious as cancer.’ As time went on I heard this same line used as a metaphor by other Hip Hop artists such as Paul Wall, the Ying Yang Twins, Shyne, Sadat X, Big L, Run DMC, Just Ice, The J.V.C. F.O.R.C.E. and Turbo B from the collective Snap!

Snap! are a German EDM producer-based duo who were fronted by various singers and rappers. Their debut single ‘Power’ is a Hip Hop classic. Their follow up single ‘Rhythm Is A Dancer’ is an EDM record which samples ‘Automan’ by pioneering rap group Newcleus. Rapper Turbo B used the line, ‘Serious as cancer’ as a metaphor in the middle eight of the track. His use of that line was heavily criticised post-release in