
Prepared another extended long play Q + A on the subject of Sony Sports Walkmans. Nice to splice together this little feature with audio aficionado and People’s Champ – Matt Langille.
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SPORTSMAN: Did you have a Sony Sports Walkman ? From memory can you describe it and the features it might have had ?
LANGILLE: Yes I had one. The thing I remember about it the most was that it was super chunky and heavy. I think they were fairly boxy to start and then got sleeker as time went on. I believe the version I had was water resistant – perhaps that’s why it was a little clunkier ? I really remember the ‘CLICK’ of that outer latch to seal in the cassette – the most satisfying mechanical sound and feel on any electronics I’ve ever owned ! I really want to hold one now and put a tape in, I’m sure it would be overwhelming.

I really remember the ‘CLICK’ of that outer latch to seal in the cassette – the most satisfying mechanical sound and feel on any electronics I’ve ever owned !
SPORTSMAN: Where and when did you use your Walkman the most ?
LANGILLE: Music was my number one thing besides sports, so pretty much any time I wasn’t playing basketball – I had my Walkman on. At home, definitely walking to and from school, drives with my parents, on the bus to and from basketball games. I have pretty significant hearing loss in my right ear, and I’m sure this was the beginning of that. I listened to my Walkman constantly, and loud.

SPORTSMAN: Well i’m glad your Walkman didn’t have the Mega Bass feature – otherwise you might have total hearing loss in both ears by now. Do you remember the first cassette tape you listened to ? Where did you get the cassette ? Where did you get most of your cassette tapes afterwards ?
I grew up in a tiny town in Nova Scotia, so getting tapes wasn’t easy to begin with, especially the music that I was into. We had one, maybe two music stores in the town, and at the time the rap selection was really small, and most often just the very big major label releases – pop-rap like Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer, Young MC, Tone Loc – that kind of stuff. I was a weird kid and started buying my own tapes really early on with paper route money, I can distinctly remember buying De La Soul’s 3 feet High & Rising the day it came out in ’89 and having my mind blown.
“I was a weird kid and started buying my own tapes really early on with paper route money. I can distinctly remember buying De La Soul’s 3 feet High & Rising the day it came out in ’89 and having my mind blown.“
I also remember hassling my father to death one day to drive me to the mall so I could buy the 3rd Bass Cactus album. For whatever reason he decided to park in a handicapped parking spot and got a ticket. He was furious with me and I got yelled at the entire ride back home ! Those 2 tapes were early though, but the 3 tapes I remember getting the most run on my Sony Sports Walkman were Gang Starr – Daily Operation & Leaders Of The new School – Future Without A Past. Both tapes were bought on the same day from Sam the Record Man in Halifax on a day trip with my grandfather. That was an awakening, you couldn’t get those kind of albums at the store in my hometown. Then lastly I can remember when Ice Cube’s Death Certificate came out, I was a big NWA fan like everyone else, then loved Cube’s Amerikkka’s Most Wanted, so was heavily anticipating Death Certificate. We were in Florida visiting my grandparents when it came out, and at that time it was around the whole 2 Live Crew censorship fight – a hot bed topic in the state – and you couldn’t buy an explicit album in Florida if you were under 18. My sister had befriended some older kids that were staying in the same motel complex as us at the time, and I paid one of these kids to buy that tape for me !

“My sister had befriended some older kids that were staying in the same motel complex as us at the time, and I paid one of these kids to buy that tape for me ! “
Outside of that, I just dubbed every rap tape I could get my hands on, I remember Chris Holstrom had an older brother that had all the rap shit, so I’d borrow his dubs and then tape them for myself. I distinctly remember I got one that was Easy E’s first album on side A and parts of Divine Styler’s Word Power on side B, which blew my mind ! Was like a west coast Native Tongues ! I also got heavily into Donald D through the dubs he had.
That’s also around the first time I heard DJ mixtapes, which eventually led to me getting into DJ’ing on my own. There was a rap group in town called Hip Club Groove, and the DJ – DJ Moves – dated one of my friends’ sisters’, so I’d always take whatever mixtapes he gave her and dubbed them. This was the first time I heard mixing and blending, and also the first time I heard rap songs that were made locally. These early experiences made me realize that it wasn’t a super crazy far off thing – that I could also partake in the world of rap music in some way. It’s partly what inspired me an led me to DJ’ing and further into the music world in general.
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Matthew Langille
I MANAGE.
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BONUS CONTENT
I asked Matt to fill out this cassette track listing postcard with a selection of songs that came out in the same year that his first Sony Sports Walkman – the WM-AF54 – came out. Matt is left handed and as a result – this – and all his past cassette tape liner listings from youth – always appear smudged as a result of his hand dragging through the freshly written wet ink.

You can listen to the partial playlist on Spotify here :
SPORTSMAN WM-AF54 1989 / MATT LANGILLE‘
SIDE A
ULTIMATE FORCE – I’m Not Playing
LOW PROFILE – Pay Ya Dues
THREE TIMES DOPE – Funky Dividends
BIZZIE BOYZ – Droppin’ It
LAKIM SHABAZZ- Getting Fierce
KOOL G RAP & DJ POLO – Road to the Riches / Men at Work
GANG STARR – Manifest
STEZO – To The Max
DIVINE STYLE – Rain
YZ – In Control of Things
MAKEBA & SCRATCH – Ain’t It Funky
BUSY BOYS – Classical
LAZY LAZ – Mystery
JUNGLE BROTHERS – J Beez Coming’ Through
SIDE B
UPTOWN – Dope On Plastic
LATEE – No Tricks
3RD DYNASTY – Gots Ta Get Funky
DE LA SOUL – Ghetto Thang
MC LYTE – Cha Cha Cha
3RD BASS – Steppin’ To The AM
THE D.O.C – It’s Funky Enough
ABOVE THE LAW – Freedom of Speech
UNIQUE – Pure Dynamite
MAIN SOURCE – Atom
SLICK RICK – Hey Young World
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THANK YOU !
PHOTOGRAPHY / LUKE TRUMAN
LOCATION / iMANiSHi JAPANESE KITCHEN