In 1995, Wu-Tang Clan rapper GZA released his second studio album Liquid Swords – a dense, dark, lyrical masterpiece that is rightly recognised as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time. Yet GZA’s classic has significance beyond that: it officially kick-started the story of one of Britain’s greatest independent record stores.

“Our first sale was Liquid Swords on CD,” says Natasha Youngs, co-founder of Brighton’s Resident Music. “When we opened we were a CD-only shop as there were ...