Burna Boy Gets Custom Beats By Dre Headphones, Inspired By ‘African Giant’

Over a decade ago, Dr Dre took the culture by storm when he introduced Beats By Dre, filling a need for studio-quality sound equipment. Now, his idea has become a billion dollar business, with a large part of the appeal being its close ties to a lot of our fave celebrities. 

Now, Burna Boy is the latest celebrity to have collaborated with the music equipment giant, as they, in partnership with Atlantic Records, have just created a custom pair of headphones for the afro-fusion star — inspired by his recently released studio album, African Giant. 

(Photo: Instagram/Burna Boy)

Over time, custom Beats collaborations became pop culture collectors’ items, sometimes selling for more than double the retail price. Burna Boy is gaining a lot of traction internationally, following his work on Beyoncé’s The Lion King: The Gift and the acclaimed African Giant. 

Given this, the collaboration comes as no surprise, putting Burna in the company of artists like Lil Wayne, DJ Khaled, Nicki Minaj and many of more. Although it’s not available for purchase, as it was created specifically for him, this cosign is still a massive deal for Burna.

For Burna Boy’s custom piece, the matte black headphones were decorated with dangling gold cowrie shells – a symbol of wealth and status which has remained a part of West African culture.  Speaking about the piece, the headphone’s designer, Chelsea, tweeted: 

“The idea was for it to be something avant garde, not thinking about the functionality of it. An actual statement, something that will be kept in a glass box to mark a moment.”

We are anticipating a lot more wins for Burna Boy!

Hey y’all I got the opportunity to work with @AtlanticRecords and @beatsbydre to create this one of a kind custom headphones for @burnaboy, inspired by his #AfricanGiantAlbum
It’s always a pleasure working for my favorite artist pic.twitter.com/l2hJBopWEs

— Chels (@Afro_child) July 27, 2019