At the beginning of the 1990s, Kelvin Anderson Mr. built an improvised recording studio on the back of his Long Beach record store, a paradise full of vinyl called The World Famous Vip Records at the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. I wanted to give young people a creative exit in the neighborhood mounted on the gang.
He ran his voice quickly through the city, and the candidates for artists began to sprinkle. People like Snoop Dogg, Warren G and Nate Dogg, who were part of a trio called 213, the Long Beach area code at that time, reduced their first demonstration there.
The deceased Christopher George Latore Wallace, better known by his artistic name The Notorious Big, shows himself with his fellow artist Craig Mack and the owner of VIP Records, Kelvin Anderson, in front of the store.
(Courtesy of VIP records)
“Trust me, there were many children there,” says Anderson, who is now 70 years old and knows as “pops” in the community. “Some learned to sing, dance, be a producer and, in the case of Ricky Harris, how to be a comedian. There were many things that happened. Jamie Foxx used to hang out there. Dj Quik learned how to produce music there. It was a place to come and explore the possibility of being an artist.”
These are among the decades of stories that come from the family property record store that has been a MECA for G-Funk music and has helped boost the races of some of the largest rap stars. Today, Anderson, who worked in the music industry for more than 50 years, hopes to preserve the history of VIP albums making it a museum and educational center.
“This brand is so loved and recognized worldwide, so we need this museum,” Anderson said during a presentation event on Tuesday, cohosted by the non -profit creative class collective. “The story must tell and the importance of black music in general, and the role it has played.”
Ashanti Dykes touches the guitar in Vip Records.
(William Liang / for the Times)
Anderson adds: “When it comes to rap and hip-hop, Vip Records was the first to sell rap music on the west coast, point.”
Anderson's older brother, Cletus, opened the first VIP records in 1967, and his brothers helped open 13 more locations throughout Los Angeles County. Anderson, who is one of the 10 children, followed the tradition of his family to move from his hometown of Mississippi to Los Angeles after graduating from high school, to help administer stores. In 1978, Cletus opened the World Famous Vip Records on Long Beach, and Anderson took it a few months later. (Cleto died in 2024 at 82)
In 2017, the city of Long Beach made the VIP Records iconic sign as a historical milestone. Mayor Rex Richardson says that the city also presented a “significant amount of money” to renew the sign and that he hopes to place it on a public property near the store so that visitors can visit and experience it. He says he wants to turn it “into a real monetary opportunity” to support Anderson's vision for the museum. He and the Anderson family are in the process of resolving an agreement.
Anderson family members. Once upon a time there were 14 VIP record locations throughout Los Angeles County, but today, only Long Beach's store remains.
(William Liang / for the Times)
“A museum, to do it well, will need some sustainable resources, so let's take this rich cultural capital that we have and start to exhibit it,” says Richardson, and adds that the restoration project is part of a larger plan known as elevate 28 to beautify and highlight historical milestones in Long Beach in time for the Summer Olympics of 2028, that Los Angeles de los Angeles are housing. He also wants to open a legends walk to exhibit Long Beach's famous natives.
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Due to the constantly evolving music industry that has changed to the transmission, the Anderson family closed all of its Long Beach store, which is a few steps from its original location. Historical artifacts fill the walls of the record store, including plates and awards of various record labels and photos of artists such as Rick James, the Jackson and Donna Summer who visited the store. Near the front of the store there is a replica of the store sign that Snoop Dogg appeared in his music video of “Who am I (what is my name)?” From his 1993 debut album, “Doggystyle”. Next to a counter, there is an image framed by the photographer of a lifetime, Duke Givens, of his childhood friend, Snoop Dogg, on display.
“The reason why [VIP Records] The power of permanence is due to love, “says Givens, a native of Long Beach who grew up frequenting the store and described it as a third space for the locals.” It is an institution. It is more than a location. You know how we have the church, we have school, we have sports … We have VIP. “
Photographer Duke Givens poses for a portrait with an image he took in 1994.
(William Liang / for the Times)
The idea of opening a museum came to Anderson several years ago when a father entered the store with his two children. While they leaned the vinyl records, one of the preteens said: “Dad, what is that?” Anderson remembers.
“There were many people in the store that day, and everyone seemed to be tune in,” says Anderson. “It was fun. I said: 'Man, we need to tell the story. We need to tell the history of the record business.”
During the event on Tuesday, Snoop Dogg called and shared its support to the museum, marking a complete circle moment.
“I just want to thank you for giving us the opportunity to show our talent when rap was not so popular and it wasn't so easy to do,” he told Anderson. “All of you in the VIP gave us hope. They all gave us the opportunity to make our dream come true and give us a platform to listen to our voice for the first time in a cassette, to listen to how we sounded, to see what we wanted to say for people.”
Travis A. Scott, a native and rapper of Long Beach who passes through Hobo (an acronym for Heart of a Brave), went to Vip Records for the first time several years ago after listening that Anderson was allowing artists to record music in the studio. He recorded his debut album, “City By Tha”, there and was signed in Last Vip Entertainment, Vip Records label.
“Vip Records is a safe shelter,” he says. “He protected me. He protected my mind from adventurizing fully in the violence of gangs and drug trafficking and all the other things that were negative in my community. Here I was where I could get to take my negative frustration in a creative and productive way. That allowed me to free myself from the loads of other calamities, being able to be myself instead of what the community and the environment wanted to be me.” “.” “.” “.” “.” “.” “.” “.”
The record store, which is still a place to find modern and classic albums, often organizes events for the community.
(William Liang / for the Times)
Anderson says that she visualizes great -grandparents that bring their great -grandchildren to space to learn about the evolution of the music industry and, most importantly, the VIP Records impact on it.
“We need that support,” says Anderson, and adds that people can make donations through the website of its foundation. “We need everyone to be behind this movement. It would be something that people would enjoy during the rest of their lives.”
While Tenisha Anderson, director of Operations of VIP Records, turned photos of her father, Kelvin, in her first days in the store, said it is an “obvious” that VIP discs have a museum.
“There are so many things that are really dying, and I do not want to be a politician, but they are even taking books,” says Tenisha, who is also the founder of the Vip Family Foundation and directs several programs for young adults that include beauty, brains and rhythms, a work that highlights the music industry from a female perspective. “The point is that you cannot remove music. Music will always tell the story. Music will always build you emotionally. Music will always be empowering because it comes from the soul.”
