De La Soul – De La Soul Is Dead

I mean that was really tricky. Just the sheer nerve of calling an album that. That play on the way they were coined as the hippies of hip hop, the flowers and everything, but the tipped over plant pot with the flower on the cover. I just thought, “These people are so cool”. Of course, the album itself was one that you would just keep turning the cassette over and over because you never really knew where the beginning and end was unless you were paying attention. It just washed over you. Obviously cassettes played a massive part in my listening experience. But my life of cassettes was ruined the day I moved to Manchester. I put all of my important documents, photographs, all my cassette collection that I'd recorded in the early 90s when I was in London off pirate radio, all in one specific box. So I packed the car and then drove away… leaving the box on the pavement, never to be seen again. My passport, my birth certificate, love letters I'd received. I'd left it until last as it was the most important and then I left it on the floor. My tape collection... I have to take deep breaths to calm myself even now, but it's ok. Just.