50 Cent left Interscope Records in part because of their link to Beats by Dre headphones.
The rapper last month left the record label where he launched his 2003 debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin’.
According to 50, the over-the-top promotion of Dr. Dre’s popular line of headphones led to increasing frustration with the direction Interscope executives were heading in.
"When you see Interscope turn into Beats Records, where everyone that you see is actually marketing Beats headphones - you don't even see a music video without Beats headphones in it,” he told MTV News.
The emphasis Interscope put on Beats was particularly galling for 50 because he had his own line of audio equipment out. The rapper has a majority share in KonAudio, rebranded as SMS Audio, which also specialises in headphones.
Fifty was left shocked after Interscope blurred out the SMS Audio logo on his hat in his music video to My Life, featuring Adam Levine, even though it did make the final cut.
"So, when the only task from the actual video department is to make sure that I don't put my headsets in the actual video - and then when we do see a rough cut, I see SMS Audio that I had on my hat is blurred out of the music video," he said. "I've never had a record company at any point... decide to alter the artist's clothing.”
Fifty’s new album Animal Ambition is due for US release on June 3 under Caroline records, an independent arm of Capitol.
