World Famous VIP Records is near and dear to many people raised in the city of Long Beach, California. It’s helped build a sense of community, launch underground rap into mainstream music, and save lives in the process. Kelvin Anderson, 67, the owner and face of the VIP Records in Long Beach, grants us access to the stages of VIP – mainly it’s revolutionary history, what’s happening now and what’s next.

“VIP was started in 1967 by my oldest brother, Cletus, in South Central LA,” Kelvin began. “His concept was to make a little money off of a lot of people instead of a lot of money on a few.” Cletus Anderson’s idea of good service and good prices made his store one of the most popular independent retail stores in the city. Word of mouth took VIP from a little store on 108th and Broadway, to a much larger location on 108th and Maine after just one year. By this time, two more Anderson brothers, David and Glen, had joined in what became a family business. Kelvin was still back in their hometown – Brandon, Mississippi, and did not join his brothers until after he completed high school in 1972.

“It’s a day that I will never forget. I graduated May 22nd, said goodbye to all of my friends and family on the 23rd, and on the morning of the 24th I got on a Delta flight from Jackson around 6am and landed in LA around 10:30 am... Cletus picked me up, took me to breakfast, and then by his house to drop off my clothes…then at 1pm… I went to work in the record business.”

Kelvin’s life drastically changed in just a six hour time frame. Independent retail had suddenly become his life’s work. “I worked for my brother for seven years before I became an owner, and in those seven years he taught me the A-Z of the industry.” Kelvin’s first job was mopping and stocking; he worked his way up to general manager. They started to expand and Kelvin took on more stores to manage. VIP eventually had a chain of twelve stores in cities such as Compton, Carson and Inglewood. 

“The best VIP Record store ever was on 28th and Crenshaw,” Kelvin says. “What was so amazing about that store was the location. Hollywood was right up that way, and a lot of our customers were celebrities. I remember Redd Foxx would come and buy music, Barry White, all the Soul Train dancers…it was a very fun time.” The experience was just as interesting for the Anderson brothers as it was for their customers. Many of their ideas, like having an in-store DJ, were copied by big name corporations such as Big Ben’s Records (owned by Warehouse Records) and their business took a big hit because of it. But what couldn’t be duplicated was the kind of service that VIP offered their customers. They came into their establishment and got more than just a product that they were purchasing, they received a personable experience that could not be found anywhere else.

In June 1978, Cletus opened the VIP Records in Long Beach. What people don’t know is that the sign that would become a landmark for the city was already there upon their arrival. It was originally a liquor store sign, and the then-owner of the plaza informed Cletus that he could do whatever he pleased with it. Cletus decided to turn it into a record store sign, and six months later, Kelvin transitioned from manager to owner when he bought the store from his brother.

“I told myself that I wanted to be my brother’s best employee, and this is the mindset I had all the way through to ownership.”

Kelvin had already set up the store, so he just paid his brother for the inventory, the equipment, the fixtures, and the transitioning of the sign. “I was able to handle a lot of things for Cletus regarding the record labels and radio stations, so I had an extensive line of credit with these agencies. They saw how I took care of business for my brother and they knew that I would do the same for myself, so I had an easy entry into the industry as an owner.”

After becoming an owner, Kelvin started going to record conventions, and ran the United Independent Retailers association in the 90s; which included different independent retailers around the country. “We were spokespersons for independent retail,” he states. “Independent retail bought music from what we called a ‘one-stop.’ The one-stop was like the market, it was the middle man. We would go and get Motown, Warner Bros…we didn't have that direct relationship with the record companies.” Due to this, they didn’t get the tools that they really needed: the posters, the in-store play copies, any type of advertising or marketing money. But Kelvin, along with the other coastal representatives and members of the association, was able to change that. “It didn’t make sense for us to go and buy their music – a CD, a record and open it up to promote their artists when it should be a part of their promotion allocation.” he continues. Independent retailers shifted the music industry, and they were able to change how it was viewed with their efforts.

“We helped launch careers; groups like The Floaters and The Enchantments sold out, out of our stores before they got any radio play.” Kelvin also explains how rap music would have never gotten off the ground if it weren’t for independent retail. 

“Radio wasn’t going to play it, and major record companies weren’t messing with it.” But Kelvin could listen to something and know how many records he was going to be able to sell, because he knows music and his base that well.

“The first big rap record I was involved with was Sugar Hill Gang’s ‘Rapper’s Delight.’

Sylvia Robinson, the owner of Sugar Hill Records, was a friend of Cletus’, and sent them the record, hoping that they could help her with it. “When I heard it I knew it was a hit. We sold it out of our stores and it was probably within the next year when radio started playing it.” His marketing tactics allowed him to reach the people that he didn’t know personally, and ultimately create space for hip-hop in its early stages.

“Early rap couldn’t get any airplay because the radio stations said they couldn’t play it, and the major record companies who controlled radio said ‘It’s going to come and go.’ But back in the days when you had your N.W.A’s, it’d be that guy sitting up at the park everyday with a big ol’ boombox drinking beer, or you’d have someone sitting in they lowrider bumping their music so loud it’d make your ears bleed,” Kelvin says with a laugh. “Those are the people I would give a N.W.A. cassette to, a Too-Short cassette.” Kelvin’s street promoting led people straight to his store and they were selling out fast.

“Eazy would come by every Friday in his lowrider and I would buy a couple of 12 inches from him on a regular basis. I was close to Eazy, and we’d tell people like him to go to the one-stops so they didn’t have to go to all these record stores.”

Kelvin and other independent retailers were hooking rappers up to the one-stop record distributors that they were buying from, and the one-stop’s kept a listing of what was hot. Record companies started seeing N.W.A. was out-selling the music that they were spending millions on and that was when they saw the power of underground trends. They were asking themselves ‘How are these guys selling without getting any radio play?’

 “I forgot the first major label that signed a rap act, but they just started signing rappers left and right after that.”

Kelvin saw the passion and the productivity of the emerging artists around him and wanted to keep that rhythm going. His inspiration to do more within the community became even more of a priority with the increase of gang violence in the city. “The 20s and the Insanes were killing each other left and right. It’s a church right behind the plaza now, but it used to be a mortuary. I remember there was something going on between a five-week period. Every Monday I came to work, it would be somebody dead between the ages of fourteen and twenty-five.” Kelvin explains how it was revenge killing between the 20s and the Insanes, but that half of the people that got killed were bystanders or were trying to break it up.

“I asked myself, ‘What can I do to get these kids off the street and give them a safe place to hangout?’” he adds. “This is part of what inspired me to create the recording studio in the back of my store.”

Kelvin doesn’t know how, but a man by the name of Sir Jinx found out about him and what he wanted to do. “Sir Jinx was Dr. Dre’s cousin. One day he took me to Dre’s house and showed me this piece of equipment and told me that it was a SP1200 drum machine – which was virtually a studio...he said you could record all your music in there, vocals, etc., but the closest he could get to it was over Dre’s shoulder. He told me if I could get that, he could help me.” Kelvin went to the guitar center near Dr. Dre’s house, purchased a SP1200 drum machine and gave it to Sir Jinx. 

Three months later, Sir Jinx came back to VIP and let Kelvin know that he was ready. “He set it up and taught two guys that worked for me how to program and do beats; this is how the recording studio started in the back of VIP.” Kelvin would open his store at 10am, turn the equipment on, and kids would be in the back of his store learning how to rap, sing, and DJ until closing time at 10pm. “A lot of artists got their start in the back of VIP.” he added. Artists such as Snoop Dogg, DJ Quik, late comedian Ricky Harris, and actor Romany Malco, began their journeys as artists there.

“Quik told me he decided what he wanted to be in life in the back of my store, and I didn’t even know he was one of the kids back there,”

Kelvin says with a chuckle. 

After the breaking out of rap music, Kelvin started learning of new marketing opportunities that would boost his business even more. “There was this marketing guy from New York that came into the store one day and said, ‘If I had your store I wouldn’t care if I didn’t sell any music – look at all of these marketing opportunities this store has.’” 

Kelvin’s store had windows all around, space for billboards that reached from each end of the plaza, and plenty of space inside for various forms of advertising. He quickly took advantage. 

“We had billboards up top, light boxes in the windows, listening stations… I can remember one year making $80,000 in marketing money and it had nothing to do with album sales; then one year you just snatch all that from up under somebody?” 

In 2003, the industry crashed. The major record labels started using the Internet to reach their consumers and online music downloading took away marketing money. “My son was going to Long Beach Poly at the time and didn’t know how I was selling any music. He told me that every kid over there had a backpack full of CDs and were selling them on campus.” But VIP had other things to offer, they didn’t just count on record sales. “People would bring in cassettes and we’d transfer them to CDs, records to CDs, VHS to DVD…we were creative.” VIP also got into apparel and started selling t-shirts, crewnecks, hoodies, and caps. “We’ve made a way, but trust me, we’ve been on life support for years.”‍

Record companies started to close — the closing of other VIP locations followed. Kelvin nearly closed at the end of 2015, but with the plans of still carrying out the business online. He had the famous VIP sign up for bid on eBay, when a city representative asked him if he had a problem with the city owning the sign, which he did not if they were going to purchase it. “They asked me to take it down so the city council could meet to discuss the possibility of buying it.” So he did. While looking for another location, a business owner within the same plaza as VIP suddenly moved out of his space, and Kelvin relocated there. “I wanted to stay close to the sign because I hadn’t heard back from anyone. Something didn’t feel right and I wanted to stay close, I didn’t want to abandon it.” In 2016, his vision for something bigger came along.

“I decided that I want to build this museum of creative arts and technology; which would include a recording studio, radio station, computer lab and historical memorabilia. Everything from the 8-track to today. An experience for all ages,” he says. Kelvin was excited about the idea and wanted to get the city involved, but still had not heard anything since the inquiry of the sign. It wasn’t until Kelvin’s brand manager went through the Freedom of Information Act and asked for all correspondence between the city and the owner of VIP (Kelvin Anderson) that they found out what was going on regarding the sign. “The owner of the plaza had put in paperwork to have the sign designated as a historical landmark. It had been going on for a whole year, and nobody said anything to me.” This didn’t sit well with him. After all, the reason why the sign met the criteria to be designated, was because of Kelvin’s work in the community of Long Beach. It wouldn’t have been ethical for the designation and jurisdiction of the sign to be under the name of anyone else, especially without his consent.

“If that were to happen, I wouldn’t have had any control over the sign. I’ve earned the respect of the people in the community over the past 38 years, so I knew that this wasn’t something that people were going to let happen,” Kelvin said. 

The city began receiving phone calls from all levels of the community; from ministers, lawyers and community leaders... Kelvin then received outreach from the city and a council meeting was put into place. “I talked about myself, my connection to the community, my years of service, how the sign came about, and they agreed with me. We talked about ways that we could work together.” 

At the end of 2017, the sign was designated as a historical landmark under the name of Kelvin Anderson, the rightful owner. He’s since moved it into storage in preparation for its restoration to anchor The World Famous VIP Museum of Creative Arts and Technology — an endeavor that seems only right when you track the journey of the World Famous VIP Records. 

Since its start in 1967, VIP’s presence has been a prominent one. One that should be attributed to the forces behind it all – the Anderson brothers. Good people, good intentions and good actions have made for far better than great business. It's a formula that’s left a legacy. It’s changed lives, fostered a community and set a blueprint. It was never about just making money. It's always been about connecting with people, providing an exclusive experience and making a positive difference. Kelvin, who’s still standing with the last VIP Records location in Long Beach, is building upon that legacy. As he works with the city to bring VIP’s Museum of Creative Arts and Technology to fulfillment, he’s ensuring a life-changing, VIP experience for the generations to come.