“Whatever you do… there’s a lot of energy here.”

Did you manage to make any music during that period of uncertainty?

No, because most of that time I spent doing research on cancer. The healthcare system here basically says ‘Rely on us, we’ll do it all for you. We’ll give you pills, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, all that sort of stuff’. I was like ‘Well, that’s not really my cup of tea, how do you know you’re right?’ So I looked into alternative therapies, lots of different cultures. In China, Japan and Korea they have very low levels of cancer compared to the west. I looked into that, I wondered how come they don’t have testicular cancer, breast cancer- it’s [the prevalence] so so low. I looked at the type of foods we eat here, different kinds of stresses, the difference in environment. I joined loads of forums, saw what other people with my condition did and didn’t do, and looked at other healthcare systems too.

You wanted to have a say in your own treatment. Was there anything you were offered you weren’t keen on?

Firstly I’d like to say the NHS were marvellous. The treatment was successful and if I’d done this in any other place in the world, like America, I would’ve had to sell my house, I don’t have any health insurance. The NHS did save my life.
I went to a London hospital. The doctor was a stuck-up little shit. He said, ‘I have to take your eye out’, and I’m like, ‘I want a second opinion’. He got me a second opinion and I went to Liverpool. They said ‘we don’t need to take your eye out, we can save it but it’s a risky operation’. I liked the sound of this more- I’m always a risk taker, what’s life without a risk? I chose the risk. So I can’t praise the NHS enough.

The experience hasn’t changed the kind of music I make, but I kind of feel like I’ve mellowed out now I’ve got older. When I was 18 that was 1990, I was listening to Ice T and NWA, doing graffiti. At that age you’re angry, you go to the park, drink some beers….But then when you get older you don’t really want to be chased by cops over garden walls and doing graffiti. It’s not really my calling in life- I’m not that good at graffiti and I’m not that good at being inconspicuous and not being caught by the police (laughs). You just start doing other things. It’s like hip-hop jams, you go to hip-hop jams- why are there no girls at hip-hop jams? Because all the guys are just mad angry onstage, it’s just a really aggressive atmosphere and I’m like ‘I don’t really wanna be here’. If I go out to a club I just want to have a good time. I don’t want to get into a fight or get stabbed. I’m not going to go to some grime night, accidentally step on some guys foot and get…shanked or something. That’s not my idea of a good night out (laughs). Nothing like a good shanking!

Travelling opens your mind to a whole plethora of cultures, languages, foods and ideas. Eight or nine years of being on the road- it makes you move away from the sort of answers I would’ve given you in ’99. In 1999 I definitely wouldn’t have been into MySpace or anything like that then, I would’ve been like ‘fuck that shit’. There was a period between ’95 to ’99 where I was just super focused on music, it was all I wanted to do. Every moment of my waking day I would spend on music. I didn’t care about anything else- girls, food, anything- I was just like ‘music music music’. Looking back at that period now, I feel happier now than I was then.

You mentioned your wife Yarah Bravo lives in Berlin. Have you ever thought about settling there yourself?

I like it and I go there a lot and one day might have a place there….but…there’s something about this little grey shithole (smiles), it’s something in the blood that you can’t get rid of. You know, the weather might be terrible and sometimes people are miserable and sometimes they are very rude, but there’s a real buzz in London and there has been for a long time. Whatever you do- photos, art, writing books, painting pictures- there’s a lot of energy here. The only other cities I have found that kind of energy in are New York and LA. Also I think it’s so important to have a melting pot, it brings different things to the city and makes what you do able to go worldwide. I’d never want to be an artist who is just huge in England but couldn’t go anywhere else, I’d see that as a failure. Ultimately the best things in life transcend culture. People all over the world listen to Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, it doesn’t just stay in America or stay in Detroit. Do people only like samba in Brazil? No, it goes around the world. I think it’s so important to get recognition in that way, that goes beyond culture, beyond language. I crave to be able to do whatever I do on a bigger scale. Iceland? Never been there…..

And with thoughts of global domination on his mind DJ Vadim retires to his kitchen to create fresh carrot juice, no doubt to sustain his dedication to his chosen artform. We are given a guided tour around his studio by one of his young protégés- a studio bursting with instruments, records and memorabilia. It’s a collection of artifacts that reflects the personal and creative journey of a man who still refuses to rest on his reputation; a journey that has seen hard work, ambition and above all- survival.