Cardi B selects beloved Long Beach record store, Fingerprints Music, for fan meet-and-greet.

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Last week, Afro-Latina rapper Cardi B dropped her highly anticipated sophomore album, “Am I The Drama.” As part of the album’s national rollout, she handpicked a series of independent record stores for exclusive fan meet-and-greets. Long Beach residents were thrilled to learn that one of those stops would be none other than their hometown favorite, Fingerprints Music.

Over the years, Fingerprints has built a reputation as a go-to location for major artist appearances. Owner Rand Foster said that the store has previously hosted guests like Ozzy Osborne, Jack Johnson, Taj Mahal, Foo Fighters and Prophets of Rage (a supergroup featuring members of Rage Against the Machine, Public Enemy, and Cypress Hill).

Fingerprints has developed a reputation not just for landing marquee names, but for becoming a community staple – even as they’ve relocated multiple times over the span of almost 33 years.  

Foster opened on July 17, 1992 in Long Beach. Thirty-three years later, the store has remained one of the community's most beloved cultural institutions.

According to Foster, the inspiration for launching the establishment was his own love of music. Growing up, he felt as though record stores were one of the few places where people “spoke his language.” Now, as an adult, he gets to cultivate that same sense of belonging for others. 

 “I very much expressed my feelings through music, and understood my feelings through music,” he told CALÓ News.

This November, Fingerprints will celebrate what Foster calls its “vinyl golden birthday” — 33 ⅓ years, a nod to the revolutions per minute of a standard LP. “That’s always been the goal,” he said, “to get to 33 and a third. Once we hit that, the next goal is 45.”

The store’s earliest days were a far cry from where they are now. Foster recalled that pre-opening, he only had $2,000 to reserve for in-store albums. He remembers that a local man asked him whether they carried an album titled ‘Bachata Rosa’ by Juan Luis Guerra – a Dominican artist and composer. 

Unfamiliar with the artist at the time, but determined to be of service to his clientele, Foster promised the man he would have the album on opening day. So he removed another album from the limited catalog, made space on the shelf and ordered the album.

“It turned out he cut hair in the neighborhood. He played in his shop, and we sold a lot of Juan Luis Guerrera because of him” said Foster. He stated that the experience was a “learning opportunity” about being receptive to community needs and played a role in how their business approach. 

That attentiveness to the community of local music lovers has sustained Fingerprints across three moves, several trends, and a pandemic.

Now that Fingerprints has found a new home in Bixby Knolls, Foster says the shop feels strikingly like the Long Beach he opened back in 1992. The store continues to grow and thrive alongside its original clientele and local community. 

“Especially now, I feel like, politically, there's so much happening in the world to make people want to stay home,” Foster told CALÓ News.

Although each move has brought a shift in customer base and musical tastes, the goal has remained the same: to make everyone feel welcome and to carry music that represents the full spectrum of the community.

“We can do live music. We can do events–but at the end of the day, I just want to give people a place that feels comfortable and makes people feel a little more like they're part of something,” Foster said, “and I think that really is the core of community.”