The Compton Swap Meet (officially Compton Fashion Center) was an

indoor swap meet An indoor swap meet in the United States, especially Southern California and Nevada, is a type of bazaar, a permanent, indoor shopping center open during normal retail hours, with fixed booths or storefronts for the vendors. Indoor swap meets hous ...

that sold the music of early

gangsta rap Gangsta rap or gangster rap, initially called reality rap, is a subgenre of rap music that conveys the culture, values, and experiences of urban gangs and street hustlers, frequently discussing unpleasant realities of the world in general th ...

artists. Wan Joon Kim began selling records of the genre at his stall, Cycadelic Records, in the 1980s. He became known as the "godfather of gangsta rap". Kim, a

North Korean defector People defect from North Korea for political, material, and personal reasons. Defectors flee to various countries, mainly South Korea. In South Korea, they are referred to by several terms, including "northern refugees" and "new settlers". To ...

who had immigrated to Los Angeles in 1976, began selling at swap meets to make money. After a group of Korean swap meet vendors founded the Compton Swap Meet in 1985, Kim opened a stall. He began selling hip-hop music and began one of the first to sell gangsta rap records, befriending rappers. He was one of the first to sell music by

N.W.A N.W.A (an abbreviation for Niggaz Wit Attitudes) was an American hip-hop group formed in Compton, California in 1987. Among the earliest and most significant figures of the gangsta rap subgenre, the group is widely considered one of the great ...

. The swap meet was featured in the music video for "

California Love "California Love" is a song by American rapper 2Pac featuring fellow American rapper Dr. Dre. The song was released December 3, 1995, as 2Pac's comeback single after his release from prison in 1995 and was his first single as the newest artist ...

" by

2Pac Tupac Amaru Shakur (; born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor, regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all tim ...

and

Dr. Dre Andre Romell Young (born February 18, 1965), known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper, record producer, record executive, and actor. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and co-founder of ...

. Kim's business remained popular through the 1990s. Kim died in 2013, and his son continued the business as a record label. The building closed in 2015.

History

Wan Joon Kim was born in Chōsen in what is now

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

between 1933 and 1934. After the liberation and division of the peninsula, he fled North Korea by fishing boat in 1950. He and his wife, Boo Ja, immigrated to the United States in 1976 and joined an early wave of Korean immigrants to Los Angeles. He began selling items at

swap meet A flea market (or swap meet) is a type of street market that provides space for vendors to sell Used good, previously owned (secondhand) goods. This type of market is often seasonal. However, in recent years there has been the development of ...

s as his source of income, initially selling

hair clip A barrette (American English), also known as a hair slide (British English), or a hair clip, is a clasp for holding hair in place. They are often made from metal or plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic polymers, synthetic or Se ...

s. Kim became interested in

hip-hop music Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music Music genre, genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African Americans, African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide r ...

upon seeing the popularity of a vendor selling

CDs CDS, CDs, Cds, etc. may refer to: Finance * Canadian Depository for Securities, Canadian post-trade financial services company * Certificate of deposit (CDs) * Counterfeit Deterrence System, developed by the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence ...

of the genre at the Roadium Open Air Market in Torrance. The Compton Fashion Center was established in 1985 by six Korean swap meet vendors. It was the first

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

. The vendors purchased a former

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

store in

Compton, California Compton is a city located in the Gateway Cities region of southern Los Angeles County, California, United States, situated south of downtown Los Angeles. Compton is one of the oldest cities in the county, and on May 11, 1888, was the eighth ci ...

for $2.8 million, spending another $1.4 million to convert it to a swap meet with 350 stalls. It was near the large Roadium and Paramount swap meets, and targeted a Black and Hispanic demographic. Kim was the third vendor to rent a stall at the market. He rented a stall next to the building's entrance for $500 per month. A music wholesaler recommended that Kim sell

African-American music African-American music is a broad term covering a diverse range of musical genres largely developed by African Americans and their African-American culture, culture. Its origins are in musical forms that developed as a result of the Slavery in ...

such as hip-hop.

Gangsta rap Gangsta rap or gangster rap, initially called reality rap, is a subgenre of rap music that conveys the culture, values, and experiences of urban gangs and street hustlers, frequently discussing unpleasant realities of the world in general th ...

was an obscure genre that few stores sold due to its references to violence and drug use. Kim was a fan of

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

and needed his daughter to help him understand the English used in gangsta rap songs, but he liked selling records of the genre. Wan Joon and Boo Ja Kim built connections with local rappers, who called them "Pops" and "Mama". As rappers distributed music within the community without record labels, Kim became the first to sell many of their releases. He made a significant profit from the business. The vendor carried artists such as

Ice Cube O'Shea Jackson Sr. (born June 15, 1969), known professionally as Ice Cube, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor, and film producer. His lyrics on N.W.A's 1989 album '' Straight Outta Compton'' contributed to gangsta rap's widespread popu ...

and

Eazy-E Eric Lynn Wright (September 7, 1964 – March 26, 1995), known professionally as Eazy-E, was an American rapper who propelled West Coast rap and gangsta rap by leading the group N.W.A and its label, Ruthless Records. Eazy-E is often re ...

, who formed the group

. Kim was the sole seller of N.W.A's early releases, which frequently sold out. It was one of the first sellers of the group's first album, ''

Straight Outta Compton ''Straight Outta Compton'' is the debut studio album by American hip-hop group N.W.A, released on January 25, 1989, through Priority Records, Priority and Ruthless Records. It was Record producer, produced by N.W.A members Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, a ...

''. The group highlighted the Compton Swap Meet in a 1989 episode of ''

Yo! MTV Raps ''Yo! MTV Raps'' is an American two-hour television music video program, which first aired on MTV Europe from 1987 to mid-1990s and on MTV, MTV US from August 1988 to August 1995. The American version of the program (created by Ted Demme and Pe ...

''. The music video for "

" (1995), by

and

, was filmed at the Compton Swap Meet. Despite tensions between African-Americans and Koreans during the

1992 Los Angeles riots The 1992 Los Angeles riots were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, United States, during April and May 1992. Unrest began in South Los Angeles, South Central Los Angeles on April 29, after ...

, Kim maintained his connections with the community. He recounted to ''

The Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper in the U.S. and the larges ...

'', "Most of my customers were the gang-bangers and drug dealers, so I built a friendship with them." In the 1990s, the demographics of Compton shifted to have fewer Black people, and gangsta rap gained worldwide popularity. Cycadelic Records continued to sell music to people from across Southern California. Kim's son, Kirk, was in charge of Cycadelic by 2012. He sold Chicano gangsta rap music and began selling online. The elder Kim worked at the stall once a week. Kim died on March 13, 2013, from a cancer. The Compton Fashion Center closed in January 2015 and was replaced by a

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

store. Cycadelic relocated across the street. Kirk Kim turned the business into a record label in April 2016, signing Korean rappers.

Legacy

Kim became known as the "godfather of gangsta rap". Several rappers have referenced the Compton Swap Meet in their songs.

Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, becoming the first music ...

featured the Compton Swap Meet building in his 2015 music video for " King Kunta", alongside other Compton locations. The video briefly shows Lamar dancing on the roof of the building. Lamar has said that he went to the swap meet as a child and that meeting 2Pac during the filming of "California Love", when he was eight, inspired him to become a rapper.

References

{{Reflist Compton, California Indoor swap meets Gangsta rap Korean-American culture in Los Angeles 1980s in hip-hop