Long Beach hosts Cardi B album event

Her meet-and-greet attracted more than 1,000 fans to promote 'Am I the Drama?' release.

- BY JULIUS MILLER

RAPPER Cardi B on Thursday at Fingerprints Music, clockwise from left; Mr. Boug'e holds Cardi B albums; Curshawn Watts, a rapper herself, waited in the several blocks-long line to meet the “Bodak Yellow” star.

(Photographs by ALLEN J. SCHABEN Los Angeles Times)

It was a particularly busy Thursday morning for the Bixby Knolls neighborhood of Long Beach.

The area, which is home to an array of independently owned businesses and small restaurants, both of which boast unique facades from storefront to storefront, saw hundreds of eager fans start lining up outside its doors as early as 8 a.m.

Many crowded around one store in particular: Fingerprints Music, which only recently began to call Bixby Knolls its home — in April — after a roughly 15-year residency in downtown Long Beach. As crowd control barricades began springing up and artist security personnel lingered outside the famed vinyl record shop, passersby and neighbors alike began to ponder what could be going on.

It was simple: Cardi B.

The “Bodak Yellow” singer managed to squeeze in a meet-and-greet event at the store to commemorate the release of her sophomore album, “Am I the Drama?” A link to tickets dropped on Fingerprints Music’s website on Sept. 9, which fans barely gave a chance to breathe.

“I follow her on Instagram — I have hard notifications on every platform — so, as soon as the video went up, I rushed to the website and bought it,” said Gerardo Torres of Gardena. “I was probably one of the first few [to buy tickets], less than five minutes after she announced it I already had mine.”