VIP Records (Long Beach)
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VIP Records is a record store chain from
South Central Los Angeles South Los Angeles, also known as South Central Los Angeles or simply South Central, is a region in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles, south of Downtown Los Angeles, downtown. It is de ...
,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
. It was founded in 1967 by Cletus Anderson, and has fourteen locations. The Long Beach location opened in 1978 and is managed by Kelvin Anderson.


History


Founding and expansion (1960s–1970s)

VIP Records was founded in 1967 by Cletus Anderson, a Mississippi native who relocated to Los Angeles. Before entering the music business, Anderson worked as a painter for companies such as
Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building automation, industrial automa ...
,
McDonnell Douglas McDonnell Douglas Corporation was a major American Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own ...
, and
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. He opened Triple B Dry Cleaners. The first VIP Records store opened at 108th Street and Broadway in
South Central Los Angeles South Los Angeles, also known as South Central Los Angeles or simply South Central, is a region in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles, south of Downtown Los Angeles, downtown. It is de ...
, eventually expanding to fourteen stores in Southern California, specifically in cities with a growing Black community: in Inglewood, Pasadena, Compton, and Crenshaw. The business also included three wholesale distribution locations—Robot Records, Magic Disc, and Music Merchandisers—as well as two in-house record labels, Magic Disc Records and Saturn Records. In 1982, VIP’s Saturn Records released
Ice-T Tracy Lauren Marrow (born February 16, 1958), known professionally as Ice-T (or Ice T), is an American rapper and actor. He is active in both hip hop music, hip hop and heavy metal music, heavy metal. Ice-T began his career as an underground r ...
’s debut single, “The Coldest Rap.”


Long Beach location and hip-hop influence (1980s–1990s)

In 1978, Anderson opened a VIP Records location in
Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...
. His brother Kelvin, who had been working in the business for several years, bought the Long Beach store from Cletus in early 1979. During the 1980s, as gang violence increased in Long Beach, particularly between the Bloods and Crips, Kelvin Anderson converted a section of the store into a recording studio. Music producer
Sir Jinx Anthony D. Wheaton (born June 3, 1970), professionally known by his stage name Sir Jinx, is an American hip-hop record producer and rapper from Los Angeles. He is a cousin of multi-platinum producer Dr. Dre. He began his career as a member of th ...
, a cousin of
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 ...
, assisted in upgrading the studio’s equipment, introducing the Emu SP-1200 sampling drum machine. The studio became a hub for hip-hop trio
213 Year 213 ( CCXIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time (in Rome), it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Calvinus (or, less frequently, year 966 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 213 ...
(
Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...
, his cousin
Nate Dogg Nathaniel Dwayne Hale (August 19, 1969 – March 15, 2011), known professionally as Nate Dogg, was an American rapper and singer. He gained recognition for providing guest vocals on several hit rap songs between 1992 and 2007, earning him the ...
, and friend
Warren G Warren Griffin III (born November 10, 1970) is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and DJ who helped popularize West Coast hip hop during the 1990s.Steve Huey"Warren G: Biography" ''AllMusic.com'', Netaktion LLC, visited May 8, 2020. ...
), who recorded their first four-song demo at VIP. Anderson shopped the demo at record labels Jive,
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,
Profile Profile or profiles may refer to: Art, entertainment and media Music * ''Profile'' (Jan Akkerman album), 1973 * ''Profile'' (Githead album), 2005 * ''Profile'' (Pat Donohue album), 2005 * ''Profile'' (Duke Pearson album), 1959 * '' ''Profi ...
, and Priority without success. Other artists and groups associated with VIP Records include
DJ Quik David Marvin Blake (born January 18, 1970), better known by his stage names DJ Quik or Da Quiksta, is an American rapper and record producer from Compton, California, known for his production in the G-funk style of West Coast hip-hop. Blake has ...
, The Dogg Pound, Domino,
The Twinz The Twinz are a hip hop duo from Long Beach, California, consisting of twin brothers Deon and Dewayne Williams. After working with Warren G on his debut album '' Regulate...G Funk Era'', the Twinz released their only album ''Conversation'' in ...
, Dove Shack, and
Tha Eastsidaz Tha Eastsidaz is a hip hop duo consisting of Tray Deee and Goldie Loc put together by Snoop Dogg, who often featured on their songs. Their first appearance was on Tommy Boy Records ''Ride'' soundtrack with Crooked Eye Q on a Battlecat-produce ...
. In 1993, Snoop Dogg filmed part of the music video for his debut single, “Who Am I (What’s My Name)?” on the VIP store rooftop.


Decline and reinvention (2000s–Present)

VIP in Long Beach is now the last remaining location and has undergone several downsizings and moves over the years. Still owned and operated by Kelvin Anderson, business began to decline in the early 2000s, coinciding with the rise of
music streaming services A music streaming service is a type of online streaming media service that focuses primarily on music, and sometimes other forms of digital audio content such as podcasts. These services are usually subscription-based services allowing users to s ...
such as
iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
. By 2012, the Long Beach store, which had been located on Pacific Coast Highway since 1978, downsized to a smaller space in the same strip mall. The larger, 3,300-square-foot location was vacated and replaced by a beauty supply wholesaler. In 2018, VIP Records underwent a significant reinvention with the launch of VIP Create Space. The new 3,200-square-foot venture sought to support local musicians and businessmen.


Influence on music and culture

The stores regularly hosted "in-store" promotional events where major artists, including
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,
Rick James James Ambrose Johnson Jr. (February 1, 1948 – August 6, 2004), better known by his stage name Rick James, was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, James began his musical career in his tee ...
,
Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...
, and
James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...
, met with fans. VIP popularized the practice of using live DJs in its stores, with Kelvin Anderson instructing DJs to read the energy of customers and tailor music selections. VIP Records in Long Beach is recognized as the birthplace of
G-funk G-funk, short for gangsta funk, (or funk rap) is a sub-genre of gangsta rap that emerged from the West Coast scene in the early 1990s. The genre is heavily influenced by the synthesizer-heavy 1970s funk sound of Parliament-Funkadelic (aka P-F ...
, a subgenre of hip-hop that blended funk elements with smooth, melodic production. G-funk’s distinctive style, characterized by slow-tempo beats and melodic synthesizers, became a defining sound of West Coast hip-hop, contrasting with the faster, more aggressive style of
East Coast hip-hop East Coast hip-hop is a regional subgenre of hip-hop music that originated in New York City during the 1970s. Hip-hop is recognized to have originated and evolved first in the Bronx borough of New York City. In contrast to other styles, East Co ...
. VIP Long Beach has been featured in multiple music videos, including: Who Am I (What's My Name?)" (1993) by Snoop Dogg and " G'd Up" by Tha Eastsidaz (1999). The VIP sign has also appeared in
Welcome to Atlanta "Welcome to Atlanta" is a song by American rapper Jermaine Dupri featuring Ludacris. It was released in 2001 as the second single from Dupri's 2001 album '' Instructions'', and appeared as a hidden track on Ludacris' second album, '' Word of Mouf ...
(Coast 2 Coast Remix) by Jermaine Dupri featuring Snoop Dogg (2002), I'm from Long Beach by Snoop Dogg (2015), the Warren G documentary G Funk (2017), and HBO's ''The Defiant Ones'' (2017).


Long Beach location sign

The VIP Records sign at the Long Beach location originally belonged to Whistler Liquor, the business that preceded VIP, and featured a whistling man. The sign was repurposed in 1978 when Cletus Anderson opened the Long Beach store. It was further customized by his brother, Kelvin Anderson, who took ownership in 1979. Using the existing structure as a base, Kelvin redesigned it to reflect the identity of VIP Records, adding a black vinyl record at the center and installing blinking neon lights to create a spinning effect. In the mid-1990s, as the store gained international recognition, Anderson added the words "World Famous" and changed the skin tone of the whistling man from white to black.


Landmark status and controversy

In 2015, Anderson attempted to auction the sign on eBay, with bids quickly surpassing $170,000. However, at the urging of city officials, he removed the listing to explore options for preserving the landmark locally. Unbeknownst to Anderson, an application to designate the sign as a historic landmark had been submitted, a move made possible by the 2015 Historic Preservation Ordinance, a Long Beach law allowing any interested party to apply for landmark status without the owner's consent. In 2016, a city-commissioned study confirmed the sign’s cultural and historical significance, concluding that it was eligible for landmark status. However, tensions between Anderson and the building’s owner, Offer Grinwald, led to delays in the process. In 2017, Anderson launched a petition to preserve the sign for an African-American arts and music museum, but upon learning that landmarking had moved forward without his involvement, he pivoted to opposing what he called the “illegal preservation” of the sign. In May 2017, the City of Long Beach allocated $80,000 to restore and landmark the sign, with the condition that Anderson complete the restoration within two years and keep the sign in Long Beach. Around the same time, controversy arose when it was announced that a
7-Eleven 7-Eleven, Inc. is an American convenience store chain, headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Seven-Eleven Japan, which in turn is owned by the retail holdings company Seven & I Holdings. The chain was founde ...
would replace the original VIP Records storefront. The news led to community pushback, including a petition opposing the convenience store’s opening. Negotiations between VIP Records and 7-Eleven followed, with the chain initially agreeing to incorporate elements reflecting the store’s historical significance and contribute to local community initiatives. However, the deal fell through in September 2017, and Anderson ultimately decided to remove the sign rather than have it remain above a 7-Eleven. In December 2017, the Long Beach City Council voted unanimously to grant the sign historic landmark status. Despite this designation, Anderson moved forward with relocating the sign, emphasizing the importance of preserving its cultural significance on his own terms.


Museum initiative

In March 2025, Anderson announced plans to convert the store into a museum and educational center. He formally unveiled the museum initiative. The museum aims to showcase the role of Black music in shaping hip-hop culture, featuring historical artifacts such as plaques, awards, and photos of renowned artists who visited the store. Additionally, it will include an educational component to teach visitors about the music industry and the impact of independent record stores. The City of Long Beach has expressed support for the project, with Mayor
Rex Richardson Rex Richardson (born August 18, 1983) is an American politician who has served as the mayor of Long Beach, California since 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, Richardson previously served as a member of the Long Beach City Council, represe ...
emphasizing its cultural and historical importance. As part of a broader revitalization initiative known as Elevate 28, which aims to highlight Long Beach landmarks ahead of the
2028 Summer Olympics The 2028 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 2028 or LA 28, is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place July 14–30, 2028, in the United States. Los Angeles ...
, the city has allocated funding to refurbish VIP Records' sign. Plans are underway to relocate the sign to public property near the store, transforming it into a tourist attraction and a sustainable funding source for the museum.


References

{{Reflist Music retailers of the United States American companies established in 1967 1967 establishments in California Companies based in Los Angeles Retail companies established in 1967 Retail companies based in California South Los Angeles