David Cameron's new spin doctor has amazed Downing Street observers by turning up for work sporting a pair of headphones made by rapper Dr Dre
The must-have accessory for every modern spin doctor? A pair of headphones made by Dr Dre. The legendary rapper may not exactly be dancing for joy that his Beats headphones have been pictured clasped around the neck of David Cameron's new communications chief, Craig Oliver, rather than seen, more typically, muffling the ears of millionaire footballers from Thierry Henry to Ashley Cole. Then again, Dre, as an increasingly successful entrepreneur and global brand, is probably not unduly bothered. His expensive range of Beats headphones (Oliver's cost �169.99) are selling well in a lucrative market.
Dre moved into headphones with US music producer and record label boss Jimmy Iovine after he bumped into Iovine on the beach. Dre complained that his lawyer wanted him to sell sneakers. "Screw sneakers, sell speakers," Iovine claims he told him.
Headphones seem to straddle the intersection of music and sport. Many leading brands, such as Skullcandy and Nixon, spring from the snowboard/skater scene, with mainstream sports manufacturers such as Nike and Adidas scrambling to catch up.
Dre's Beats brand is also churning out headphones endorsed by celebrities including Lady Gaga and Sean "P Diddy" Combs, as well as being used to add some bass ? and cachet ? to laptops made by staid old Hewlett-Packard.
But Dre does not have the hip-hop-legend headphone marketplace all to himself. Snoop Dogg has endorsed Skullcandy (cheap and second to Sony in US sales) while rapper 50 Cent has put his name to a new range called Sleek by 50 Cent. 50 Cent (given his first record deal by Dre) recently tweeted that Dre and Iovine were "mad" at him for moving into headphones, although Dre drily told TMZ.com he had "never heard" of 50's headphones.
Dre also has a new album coming out to play on all these headphones. Perhaps Cameron's new spinner was inspired to buy the headphones by the title of Dre's latest track, I Need a Doctor.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/mar/01/dr-dre-headphones-at-downing-street
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