Pitbull

Pitbull, the bilingual rapper and producer famous for shouting his catchphrase “Dale!,” specializes in reggaeton-tinged party pop. His path began with a measured climb inside Miami’s hip-hop community and led to mainstream chart supremacy from the late 2000s into the 2010s through pulsating dance tracks that included the U.S. Top Ten singles “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho),” “I Like It,” “Give Me Everything,” “Timber,” “Feel This Moment,” and “Time of Our Lives.” The early-2010s albums Planet Pit, Global Warming, and Globalization each received platinum certification, while the 2015 Spanish-language project Dale brought Pitbull his first Grammy Award. Additional Spanish-language successes followed, among them the multi-platinum single “Dame Tu Cosita” together with “No Lo Trates” and “Me Quedare Contigo” from 2019’s Libertad 548 and the 2022 release “Café con Leche.” Releases such as “Jumpin” with Lil John and “Freak 54 (Freak Out)” featuring Nile Rodgers paved the way for 2023’s Trackhouse, after which the 2024 non-album single “2 the Moon,” a collaboration with Ne-Yo and Afrojack, appeared.

Born Armando Christian Perez, the future “Mr. 305” grew up under the care of first-generation Cuban immigrant parents who made certain their son absorbed his cultural roots. They insisted he commit to memory the poetry of José Martí, and Pitbull quickly grasped the force of language. Early inspirations came from Southern acts including Poison Clan and Luther Campbell, yet as he matured the young rapper also embraced the West Coast G-funk sound and the perspective Nas brought from New York City. When crunk, the Southern-flavored party rap style, seized urban radio, he resolved to pursue stardom and started surfacing on Miami mixtapes. An encounter with Irv Gotti yielded no immediate results, but Luther Campbell soon invited the rapper to join his “Lollipop” single. That exposure drew the attention of the Diaz Brothers management team, who connected Pitbull with Lil Jon, the king of crunk. A Pitbull freestyle was included on Lil Jon’s platinum-selling 2002 album Kings of Crunk, and the track “Oye” appeared on the 2003 soundtrack for 2 Fast 2 Furious. Eager to reach the summit, Pitbull issued his debut full-length, M.I.A.M.I., on the TVT label in 2004, fronted by the Lil Jon-produced single “Culo.”

Before long Pitbull was lending guest vocals to songs by artists ranging from the Ying Yang Twins to Elephant Man. The 2005 compilation Money Is Still a Major Issue gathered the strongest of those guest spots along with remixes and previously unreleased material. The 2006 single “Bojangles” set the stage for his next album, El Mariel. As that project reached stores, word emerged that the subsequent release would be entirely in Spanish and called The Boatlift. When the finished album appeared in 2007, however, it was largely in English and introduced by the single “Go Girl.”

Rebelution arrived two years later, packed with polished club tracks highlighted by the hits “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)” and “Hotel Room Service.” The all-Spanish-language album Armando, introduced by the hit single “Bon Bon,” followed in 2010. Planet Pit landed in 2011 and contained the singles “Hey Baby (Drop It to the Floor)” and “Give Me Everything.” Both the singles collection Original Hits and I Am Armando, a reloaded edition of Armando, surfaced in 2012 alongside Global Warming, his seventh studio album. That record featured the hits “Back in Time” and “Feel This Moment”; when a deluxe reissue appeared in 2013, the single “Timber” with special guest Kesha was added. Early in 2014 Pitbull released “Wild Wild Love,” featuring vocals from the girl group G.R.L., which debuted at number 30 on the Billboard pop chart. Months later he announced Globalization, his eighth studio album, which arrived near the close of 2014 and included contributions from Chris Brown, Sean Paul, Dr. Luke, and additional guests. Four singles reached the Top 40: “Wild Wild Love,” “Fireball,” “Time of Our Lives,” and “Fun.” Dale, his second Spanish-language album, arrived in 2015, the same year he launched his Sirius XM satellite radio station, Pitbull’s Globalization. The album earned the Grammy for Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, marking Pitbull’s first Grammy win, and it topped Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart.

Climate Change, his tenth studio release and a return to English-language material, appeared the following year. High-profile collaborators on the project included Robin Thicke, Joe Perry, Flo Rida, Enrique Iglesias, Jennifer Lopez, Jason Derulo, Stephen Marley, Leona Lewis, and R. Kelly, among others. The single “Messin’ Around” featuring Iglesias reached the pop charts ahead of the album’s March 2017 release. Later that year Pitbull issued Greatest Hits, a second compilation spanning solo material from 2009’s Rebelution through 2014’s Globalization, which added two new songs: “Jungle” with Stereotypes, E-40, and Abraham Mateo, and “Locas” with longtime collaborator Lil Jon.

In 2018 Pitbull supplied two tracks, “So Sorry” and “Amore” with Leona Lewis, to the Gotti soundtrack. That same year he enlisted Theron Theron for “Free Free Free” and appeared on Claudia Leitte’s “Carnaval,” Enrique Iglesias’ “Move to Miami,” and Arash’s “Goalie Goalie.” In 2019 he teamed with Papayo and Ky-Mani Marley on “Yayo” and with Daddy Yankee and Natti Natasha on “No Lo Trates.” Libertad 548, his full-length studio outing released in early December, was co-produced by Pitbull, IAmChino, and Jorge Gomez with Jimmy Joker and drew inspiration from the memory of his late father. In a social-media post he wrote: “The ...album title represents the number of people my father, Armando Sr., led to freedom during the Mariel boatlift in Cuba in 1980. The album cover is a photo of him taken during this time; I was born just a few months later. The best gift Armando Sr. and my mother ever gave me was freedom.” Libertad 548 contained the collaborative single with Natasha, “Tell Me Again” featuring Prince Royce and Ludacris, and “Get Ready” with country star Blake Shelton; it reached number 12 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart. Additional tracks arrived in 2021, among them “Cantare” featuring Lenier and “Ten Cuidado” with Farruko, IAmChino, El Alfa, and Omar Courtz. Pitbull opened 2022 with the Latin party single “Café con Leche” and began 2023 with the AYYBO- and Ero808-assisted “Right or Wrong (Hypnosis).” Further singles appeared throughout 2023, including “Mami,” “Jumpin” with Lil John, and “Freak 54 (Freak Out)” with Nile Rodgers, all previewing his 12th album, Trackhouse. The non-album single “2 the Moon,” a collaboration with Ne-Yo and Afrojack, arrived in June 2024 and entered the Top 30 of the Pop 100.