Click image to watch 50 Cent’s “Beats vs. SMS” Headphone Dilemma video.
The big elephant in the room before 50 Cent’s Interscope departure was his SMS audio headphones rivaling the companies first party brand of Dre Beats headphones. Fiddy opened up directly calling Interscope “Beats Records,” explaining every artist at the major label has some tie to the headphone brand during audio rollouts.
There was already obvious tension between both sides, with SMS becoming a big success not only here in the states but internationally as a direct competitor. In the sit-down with Forbes editor Zack O’Malley Greenburg, 50 opens up revealing one of the final straws in his tenure with the record label was during his music video shoot for “My Life” with Eminem and Adam Levine back in 2012. During filming, 50 was not allowed to use his headphones in the video but decided to wear an SMS hat to get his point across. In the final edit, his cap was blurred out of the video and was the Trojan horse to him leaving the label.
Learn more in the clip after the jump, and stay tuned for the 50 takeover.
OS REWIND: 50 Cent – Don’t Worry ‘Bout It [Music Video]
OS REWIND: 50 Cent – Hold On [Music Video]
OS REWIND: 50 Cent Talks History With Steve Stoute