DJ Semtex

World-class DJ, producer, radio titan, and celebrated author – DJ Semtex wears many hats. To fans, he is a trusted authority, to peers, he is a creative force advancing the culture.

He first cut his teeth as a DJ in his hometown, Manchester. In the years since, he has become one of the premier DJs in hip hop, touring, opening, and performing onstage with the likes of Nas, Wu-Tang Clan, Rick Ross, Travis Scott, Dave, Skepta, Migos, and Dizzee Rascal.

Producing and releasing his own music under his label Seminal Sound. With recent work featuring Vic Mensa, Backroad Gee, Kwesi Arthur, and Afro B. Semtex is constantly inspired by the crowds he plays for to craft tracks that could shut down any show.
On-air, he made his mark as a thought-provoking interviewer, turning his 15-year-strong slot on BBC 1Xtra and then a show on Capital Xtra into must-visits for artists. Anchored by an impulse to share hip-hop’s story, as a radio personality he is known to coax unusual realness out of closed-off megastars like Kanye West, Drake, Jay-Z, and Eminem.
A dedicated, knowledgeable hip-hop head, DJ Semtex certified himself as one of the most potent voices in the scene when he penned the pioneering book, 2016’s Hip Hop Raised Me. Then, in 2020, he turned the critically-lauded memoir-cum-definitive history into his own interview series, the Hip Hop Raised Me Podcast.

And with more international collaborations and creative moments in the pipeline, DJ Semtex continues pushing the culture forward.