January 12, 2011
WATCH: 50 Cent Talks New Headphones & Potential Maybach Deal
Between announcements of new 3D televisions, tablet PCs, and do-it-all smartphones, one of the standout media announcements at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show was a new brand of headphones, called Sleek by 50 Cent.
Sleek was one of a handful of high performance, celebrity headphones introduced last week that took social media and the blogs by storm.
See: Sound Advice: 5 Celebrity Headphone Lines
Sleek will retail at $350 and has Kleer technology, which claims to provide nearly flawless wireless audio that is supposedly superior to Bluetooth audio. The battery life of these professional grade headphones can last 15-20 hours from a single charge using an iPhone cable.
Entertainer/entrepreneur and Black Enterprise cover subject Curtis “50 Cent†Jackson, the product’s namesake and a top investor in Sleek Audio, visited CES last week to unveil his newest financial and creative endeavor and to explain why he believes Sleek outperforms the competition.
“I went through a process before I met with Jason and Mark Krywko, sitting with different companies that were developing products and I had to sort through them to figure out who would be able to develop the best product for me to present to the public,†says Jackson. “They presented something that didn’t actually exist in the marketplace.â€
Jackson chose Sleek Audio, because of their 30-plus year history making hearing aids and custom fitted, in-ear headphones for athletes. He decided not to create bass heavy headphones because he wanted a product that would have mass appeal. Nevertheless, the headphones are equipped with a bass boost button for listeners who want to amp up the sound.
“50 has been a part of the design process since day one,†says Jason Krywko, chief operating officer of Sleek Audio. “For over eight months he has been in the lab. We have been working nonstop designing. Everything from how he wanted it to sound… to the actual look, and the type of carbon fiber, where the aluminum was, where the plastics were. Everything was completely done by him.â€
I spoke with Jackson at CES, and he broke down his business reasons for choosing Sleek Audio. Watch the video below for more of his insights.