Former NWA member Dr. Dre, who achieved in greater acclaim as an individual rapper thanks to hits like Nothin but a G Thang and Dre Day, has transitioned from rap superstar into entrepreneur as of late. In 2008, Dre released a high-performance line of headphones dubbed Beats by Dr. Dre that have sold very well.
This past August, Dre secured a $300 million dollar deal with HTC whereby the handset maker acquired a 51% interest in Beats Electronics. As part of the deal, HTC is incorporating Beats technology into their products, with two new Beats integrated cellphones already having launched recently – the HTC Dr Dre Sensation XL, for example, was launched 3 days ago.
GlobalGrind recently caught up with Dre, and in a far ranging interview, Dre said that he wants his phone, or shall we say the phone featuring his Beats technology, to be second only to Apple.
Oh nah, I am not nervous about anything! I am trying to be number 2 to Apple, and number 2 to Apple is not a bad position to be in.
As for his other initiatives, Dre, like most successful entrepreneurs, is dreaming big and has already inked deals with HP to bring high-quality audio performance to their line of PCs.
I am involved in Chrysler; we are in cars right now. My whole thing is to take over everything with a speaker. That is what I am shooting for.
As for Dre and music, his upcoming album titled Detox is slated to be his last and will hopefully be released sometime in 2011 after having been delayed for quite a few years now.
And so Dre has seemingly gone from “Keep their heads ringin'” to “Keep their phones ringin’.”
Props to anyone out there who catches the reference.
Tue, Oct 11, 2011
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