For LeBron James, the name on his chest and number on his back aren’t the only things changing this season. The new Miami Heat recuit—one-third of the Dwayne Wade & Chris Bosh triumvirate—will also smothering his earlobes with some new headphones: his own model of Dr. Dre’s Beats audio ‘buds. James joins Lady Gaga and Diddy as the latest celebrity with his own set of Dr. Dre-constructed earwear. LeBron’s will be called “Power Beats.”
“They’re earbuds, but they wrap around the ear,” said Dr. Dre, who shares one of two VIBE Juice issue covers with Eminem. “Each bud has two drivers so it sounds a little louder. You can hear the 808 in these. I’ve been wearing the prototype every day to workout.”
The rollout for the headwear is already in place. LeBron James tweeted last week that he’d shot an ad for the new venture. “Just wrapped my commercial shoot for my new product, “Power Beats” by Dre. Me, Dr.Dre and Affion Crockett,” LeBron tweeted. “Coming to a store near u.”
According to Dr. Dre, headphones are just the beginning for his audio brand.
“[Beat-making software is] something I want to get into and the headphones were a good start,” says Dre, who won VIBE’s Greatest Hip-Hop Producer Tournament earlier this year. “I want to get into putting out my own drum sounds and maybe a beat machine. I’m going back and forth to see if it it’ll be just sounds or an entire machine. We’re [also] talking about iPod docks, car stereos and an entire line.”
There’s not yet word on when LeBron’s Power Beats will available for sale. —John Kennedy, with additional reporting by Jerry Barrow
