Compton Swap Meet
| Compton Fashion Center | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Address | 2100 N Long Beach Blvd, Compton, California, US |
| Coordinates | 33°54′36″N 118°12′31″W / 33.91000°N 118.20861°W |
| Opened | 1985 |
| Closed | 2015 |
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.