Born Andre Young, he was a founding member of N.W.A. and honed the sound of Snoop Dogg, Eminem and 50 Cent. But now what began as a sideline has turned into multimillion-dollar business.
Mr. Young is the pitchman for the hot new sound in — headphones. On this October day, he is headlining a media party in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan for his creations, Beats by Dr. Dre.
To the surprise of almost everyone, except him and his partners, Beats have redefined the lowly headphone, as well as how much people are willing to pay for a pair of them. A typical pair of Beats sell for about $300 — nearly 10 times the price of ear buds that come with iPods. And, despite these lean economic times, they are selling surprisingly fast.
Whether Beats are worth the money is open to debate. Reviews are mixed, but many people love them. The headphones are sleekly Apple-esque, which is no surprise, since they were created by a former designer at Apple. Beats also offer a celebrity vibe and a lot of boom-a-chick-a-boom bass.
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