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About Pitbull
Pitbull was born Armando
Christian Perez to Cuban
parents. After his
parent’s separation
Pitbull was raised by
his mother and later by
a foster family in
Georgia. When Perez was
young he was made to
memorize the works of
Cuban poet Jose Marti by
his parents. This proved
to be a big influence on
Perez’s work, apart from
the Miami Bass Hip Hop
scene, which he
practically grew up on.
Perez has cited The
Notorious B.I.G, The Pun
and Nas as his
inspiration for starting
to rap in high school.
Soon after, Perez was
doing rap battles on the
radio.
Luther Campbell, one of
Pitbull’s early
influences, invited him
to feature on his
single, Lollipop. It is
said that it is Lollipop
that brought Pitbull to
the attention of Diaz
Brothers, whose
management team
introduced Perez to Lil
Jon in Miami. In 2002,
Pitbull was featured on
the Lil Jon and East
Side Boyz platinum
selling album, Kings of
Crunk. Pitbull’s track
from the album Oye was
featured on the
2Fast2Furious soundtrack
in 2003.
Pitbull released his
full debut album
M.I.A.M.I in 2004. The
album title is short for
Money is A Major Issue,
on the TVT Record label.
The lead single Culo,
produced by Lil Jon and
the Diaz Brothers,
peaked at #11 on the Hot
Rap Tracks Chart and #
32 on the Billboard Hot
100 chart. Pitbull was
part of the Anger
Management Tour, sharing
the stage with 50 Cent
and Eminem. Soon, he was
collaborating with acts
ranging from Ying Yang
Twins’ single Shake,
Twista’s Hit the Floor
to the single Holla at
Me on and Born n Raised
on Listennn...The Album
by Terror Squad and DJ
Khaled.
El Mariel, Pitbull’s
second album was
released in October 2006
and is named after the
boat transporting Cuban
refugees in the movie
Scarface. El Mariel was
dedicated to Perez’s
father, who died in May
2006. The album turned
out to be a huge
success, making it to #2
on the Hot Rap Chart and
# 17 on the Billboard
Top 200 Chart. The album
also made it the top on
the Billboard
Independent Albums
Chart.
While still riding on
the success of El
Mariel, Pitbull’s third
album, The Boatlift, was
released towards the end
of 2007. The Boatlift
spawned the singles
Secret Admirer, Go
Girls, and The Anthem.
Pitbull hosts a variety
show titled Pitbull’s La
Esquina on the American
cable channel Mun2. The
show premiered in May
2007. Rebelution, his
latest album was
released in August 2009.
The album is crammed
with collaborations,
with artists like
Pharrel Williams of The
Neptunes and Lil Jon.
Krazy the single
featuring Lil Jon, made
it to top #11 on the Hot
Rap Charts. I Know You
Want Me made to #2 on
the Billboard Hot 100,
and to the top ten UK
Singles Charts. It was
also a huge success in
Canada, Italy, France
and the Netherlands.
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