The Compton Swap Meet (officially Compton Fashion Center) was an indoor Swap Meet that sold the music of early gangsta rap 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 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. The Swap Meet was featured in the music video for "California Love" by 2Pac and Dr. Dre. 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 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 meets as his source of income, initially selling hair clips. Kim became interested in hip-hop music upon seeing the popularity of a vendor selling CDs 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 indoor Swap Meet in Southern California. The vendors purchased a former Sears store in Compton, California 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 such as hip-hop. Gangsta rap was an obscure genre that few stores sold due to its references to violence and drug use. Kim was a fan of classical music 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 and Eazy-E, who formed the group N.W.A. 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. The group highlighted the Compton Swap Meet in a 1989 episode of Yo! MTV Raps. The music video for "California Love" (1995), by 2Pac and Dr. Dre, was filmed at the Compton Swap Meet. Despite tensions between African-Americans and Koreans during the 1992 Los Angeles riots, Kim maintained his connections with the community. He recounted to The Los Angeles Times, "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 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 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.

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