It wasn’t easy, it could take way too long and it really wasn’t cool to see all your hard work resting on the long-term health of some magnetically coated plastic tape. But that was the beauty of it; it was a labor of love. The mixtape was an art and everyone knows good art never comes easy.

We asked some of today’s most influential artists to recount their experiences with making mixtapes and renowned photographer and director Jonathan Mannion captured it all on film. The result is the TDK Life on Record Chronicles film series that pays tribute to the days of cassette tapes and the anatomy of the mixtape. We kick off this exclusive film series with The Strokes, New York’s own Nas and indie rock stalwarts The Walkmen. The Chronicles film series provides a rare look into the lives of these artists that reveals their love of music through songs and stories from their pasts.