RAPPER 50 CENT UNVEILS NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH INTEL TO CREATE "SMART" EARBUDS

CURTIS "50 CENT" JACKSON

The rapper, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, unveiled a partnership between the chip giant and his SMS Audio at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, introducing the SMS Audio BioSport In-Ear Headphones.

The “smart” earbuds have embedded biometric sensors that collect fitness data, including heart rate, without the need for regular charges.

SMS has spent the past few years broadening its customer base, recruiting Knicks power forward Carmelo Anthony and surfer Alana Blanchard to appeal to athletes and signing a licensing deal with “Star Wars” studio Lucasfilm.

But after the Apple/Beats deal, Jackson said he knew the company had to find new areas of focus — and what Intel was proposing was a perfect fit.

“Beats helped me,” said Jackson, who has been a regular at CES to plug his headphone brand. “Whenever a company makes a deal, there’s a different house on the other side of the street, ya know? So I went over to that house.”

Certainly, SMS isn’t exiting the high-end headphone arena. The company is one of the three biggest players in that market today, along with Beats and Monster.

But Jackson said that with Apple’s retail power now behind Beats, getting SMS into new stores could be much more challenging in years to come.

“When a company sees us as a direct competitor, they use their relationships to get hold of certain retailers,” he said. “That can affect the growth potential of my company.”

Smart earbuds are just one way to ensure that growth continues. Another is the Lucasfilm deal. The first line of headphones based on the “Star Wars” movies shattered sales expectations, surprising everyone at SMS — especially Jackson.

“What we projected for the first quarter of sales, the line outsold in two days,” he said. “That’s what opened my eyes to the passion for the Lucas brand. It’s not just kids. It’s people who encountered [‘Star Wars’] as kids. That passion isn’t fading. It’s still strong.”

A second line of “Star Wars” headphones will come out in the second quarter of this year, priced at $200 a pair. And the next film in the series, due in December, could further increase the circle of interest in the products.

Any sales boost will be welcome, but as a CEO, Jackson said, he’s more interested in learning how George Lucas’ former company — Disney bought Lucasfilm for $4 billion in 2012 — has maintained such unwavering customer loyalty.

“I’ve seen brands stretch across a number of categories and not mean anything in those areas,” he says. “[Lucasfilm] has been successful sustaining that brand — and done so better than anyone.”