VIP Records helped launch Snoop Dogg's career. Now the shop owner wants to build a museum

5 days ago 7

In the aboriginal 1990s, Kelvin Anderson Sr. built a makeshift signaling workplace successful the backmost of his Long Beach grounds store, a vinyl-filled paradise called the World Famous VIP Records connected the country of Pacific Coast Highway and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. He wanted to springiness younker a originative outlet successful the pack ridden neighborhood.

Word rapidly dispersed astir the city, and aspiring artists started sprinkling in. Folks similar Snoop Dogg, Warren G and Nate Dogg — who were portion of a trio dubbed 213, the Long Beach country codification astatine the clip — famously chopped their archetypal demo there.

”Trust me, determination were galore kids successful there,” says Anderson, who’s present 70 and known arsenic “Pops” successful the community. “Some were learning however to sing, dance, to beryllium a shaper and, successful Ricky Harris’ case, however to beryllium a comedian. There was a batch going on. Jamie Foxx utilized to bent retired there. DJ Quik learned however to nutrient euphony there. It was a spot to travel and research the anticipation of being an entertainer.”

These are among the decades of stories that stem from the family-owned grounds store that has been a mecca for G-funk euphony and has helped boost the careers of immoderate of rap’s biggest stars. Today, Anderson, who’s worked successful the euphony manufacture for much than 50 years, is hoping to sphere the past of VIP Records by converting it into a depository and acquisition center.

“This marque is truthful loved and recognized astir the world, truthful we request this museum,” Anderson said during a Tuesday unveiling event, co-hosted by the nonprofit Creative Class Collective. “The communicative needs to beryllium told and the value of Black euphony successful general, and the relation that it has played.”

Ashanti Dykes plays the guitar astatine the VIP Records event.

Anderson adds, “When it comes to rap and hip-hop, VIP Records was the archetypal to merchantability rap euphony connected the West Coast, period.”

Anderson’s older brother, Cletus, opened the archetypal VIP Records successful 1967, and his siblings helped unfastened 13 much locations passim L.A. County. Anderson, who is 1 of 10 children, followed his family’s contented of moving from their Mississippi hometown to L.A. aft helium graduated precocious school, to assistance tally the stores. In 1978, Cletus opened the World Famous VIP Records successful Long Beach, and Anderson took it implicit a fewer months later. (Cletus died successful 2024 astatine property 82.)

In 2017, the metropolis of Long Beach made VIP Records’ iconic motion a historical landmark. Mayor Rex Richardson says that the metropolis besides enactment distant a “significant magnitude of money” to refurbish the motion and that helium hopes to spot it onto nationalist spot adjacent the store truthful visitors tin sojourn and acquisition it. He says helium wants to crook it “into an existent monetary opportunity” to enactment Anderson’s imaginativeness for the museum. He and the Anderson household are successful the process of moving retired an agreement.

“A museum, successful bid to bash it right, it volition request immoderate sustainable resources, truthful let’s instrumentality this affluent taste superior we person and statesman to enactment it connected display,” says Richardson, adding that the restoration task is portion of a larger program known arsenic Elevate 28 to beautify and item historical landmarks successful Long Beach successful clip for the 2028 Summer Olympics, which Los Angeles is hosting. He besides wants to unfastened a legends locomotion to showcase celebrated Long Beach natives.

Due to the ever-evolving euphony manufacture that has shifted to streaming, the Anderson household closed each but its Long Beach store, which is simply a fewer steps distant from its archetypal location. Historical artifacts capable the walls of the grounds store, including plaques and awards from assorted grounds labels and photos of artists similar Rick James, the Jacksons and Donna Summer who visited the shop. Near the beforehand of the store is simply a replica of the shop’s landmark motion that Snoop Dogg famously featured successful his euphony video for “Who Am I (What’s My Name)?” from his 1993 debut album, “Doggystyle.” Next to a counter, there’s a framed representation taken by longtime photographer, Duke Givens, of his puerility friend, Snoop Dogg, connected display.

“The crushed wherefore [VIP Records] has staying powerfulness is due to the fact that of love,” says Givens, a Long Beach autochthonal who grew up frequenting the store and described it arsenic a 3rd abstraction for locals. “It’s an institution. It’s much than conscionable a location. You cognize however we person church, we person school, we person sports ... we person VIP.”

Photographer Duke Givens poses for a representation with an representation helium took successful 1994.

The thought to unfastened a depository came to Anderson respective years agone erstwhile a begetter walked into the store with his 2 sons. As they thumbed done the vinyl records, 1 of the preteens said, “Dad, what’s that?” Anderson recalls.

“There were a batch of radical astatine the store that day, and everyone seemed to beryllium tuned in,” Anderson says. “It was funny. I said, ‘Man, we request to archer the story. We request to archer the communicative of the grounds business.’”

During Tuesday’s event, Snoop Dogg called successful and shared his enactment for the museum, marking a full-circle moment.

“I conscionable privation to convey you for giving america an accidental to really showcase our endowment backmost erstwhile rap wasn’t truthful fashionable and it wasn’t truthful casual to do,” helium said to Anderson. “All of y’all up determination astatine the VIP gave america hope. Y’all gave america accidental to really marque our imagination travel existent and springiness america a level to perceive our dependable for the archetypal clip connected a cassette, to perceive what we sounded like, to spot what we meant to people.”

Travis A. Scott, a Long Beach autochthonal and rapper who goes by H.O.B.O (an acronym for Heart of a Brave One), went to VIP Records for the archetypal clip respective years agone aft proceeding that Anderson was allowing artists to grounds euphony successful the studio. He recorded his debut album, “City by tha Sea,” determination and was signed nether At Last VIP Entertainment, VIP Records’ label.

“VIP Records is simply a harmless haven,” helium says. “It protected me. It protected my caput from venturing afloat into the pack unit and into the cause commercialized and each the different things that were antagonistic successful my community. This wherever I was capable to travel to beryllium capable to instrumentality my antagonistic vexation retired successful a originative and productive way. That allowed maine to escaped myself from the burdens of others calamities, to beryllium capable to beryllium myself alternatively of what the assemblage and the situation wanted maine to be.”

The grounds store, which remains a spot to find modern and classical albums, often hosts events for the community.

Anderson says helium envisions great-grandparents bringing their great-grandkids to the abstraction to larn astir the improvement of the euphony manufacture and astir importantly, VIP Records’ interaction connected it.

“We request that support,” says Anderson, adding that radical tin marque donations via their instauration website. “We request everybody to get down this movement. It would beryllium thing that radical would bask passim the remainder of their life.”

As Tenisha Anderson, main operating serviceman for VIP Records, flipped done photos of her father, Kelvin, successful his aboriginal days astatine the store, she said that it’s a “no-brainer” for VIP Records to person a museum.

“There are truthful galore things that are really dying off, and I don’t privation to beryllium political, but they are adjacent taking books away,” says Tenisha, who is besides the laminitis of the VIP Family Foundation and runs respective young big programs including Beauty, Brains and Beats, a store that highlights the euphony manufacture from a pistillate perspective. “The happening is, you can’t instrumentality the euphony away. The euphony is ever going to archer the story. The euphony is ever going to physique you up emotionally. The euphony is ever going to beryllium empowering due to the fact that it comes from the soul.”

Read Entire Article