Pitbull Ft Jlo

[Temika]

ArmandoChristian Prez was born on January 15, 1981, in Miami, Florida,[12][13] to Cuban immigrant parents. While growing up, he was strongly encouraged by his family to "take advantage" of the privilege of living in America, and the opportunities it came with.[14] His family has a history of fighting against the Castro regime in Cuba.[15] When he was three, he could recite the works of Cuban national hero and poet Jos Mart in Spanish.[16] He learned English by watching Sesame Street as a child.[17] His father was largely absent from his childhood; his parents separated when he was young, and he was raised mostly by his mother,[18] later stating: "my mom is my father and my mother."[19] He briefly stayed with a foster family in Roswell, Georgia. His parents struggled with substance abuse; as a teenager, he was also involved with drug use and dealing, which eventually led to him getting kicked out of the family house.[18] He attended South Miami Senior High School and Miami Coral Park High School. While growing up, he was influenced by the Miami bass genre of pop music[4] and has cited Celia Cruz and Willy Chirino as sources of inspiration,[20] in addition to rappers such as Nas, Jay-Z, and Snoop Dogg. He stated that Miami's melting pot characteristics exposed him to various cultures which influenced his artistry and himself as a person.[14]

It's a melting pot. You know, it's a melting pot. You get a chance to grow up around so many different - you know, I've grown up in good neighborhoods, bad neighborhoods, worse neighborhoods. But growing up around so many cultures, it's always allowed me to think out of the box and try new sounds and try new things. You learn something new from every culture, just like I learn something new from every record.

He said he chose his stage name of Pitbull because the dogs "bite to lock. The dog is too stupid to lose. And they're outlawed in Dade County. They're basically everything that I am. It's been a constant fight".[18] After meeting Lil Jon in Miami,[18] Pitbull was featured on Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz' album Kings of Crunk in 2002.[4] Pitbull's song "Oye" was featured on the soundtrack to the film 2 Fast 2 Furious the following year.[18] In addition, Pitbull released several mixtapes, composed of freestyles and remixes of popular rap music. Pitbull also worked with Uncle Luke during his early career, being featured on Luke's 2001 album Somethin' Nasty, including the single "Lollipop" along with Lil' Zane.[4]

In 2001, Pitbull was signed to Luther Campbell's Luke Records by Jullian Boothe, then the label's vice-president of A&R.[21] In 2001, Pitbull was introduced to Robert Fernandez of Famous Artist Music & Management, an independent label and management company specializing in developing artists, by the Diaz Brothers, a producer duo signed to the company. Fernandez "saw the eagerness and hunger he had" and, with the Luke Records deal ending, began working to develop Pitbull. Together they focused on creating a more radio-friendly sound. Fernandez later told HitQuarters: "At that time his music had a lot of verses and took a long time to get into the hook, and so we took time in getting the songs catchier and less on the rap side." [citation needed]

Fernandez introduced Pitbull to Lil Jon, hoping to secure the rapper a small guest intro spot on Lil Jon's upcoming album Kings of Crunk. According to Fernandez, Jon took a liking to Prez and offered him a track on the album; it is called "Pitbull's Cuban Ride Out". This track helped raise the young rapper's profile.[22]

TVT Records, Pitbull's label at the time, and Slip-n-Slide Records disputed over the release of Welcome to the 305, an unreleased album by Slip-n-Slide that Pitbull recorded in 2001.[24] A Miami judge ruled that Slip-n-Slide had a legal right to release the album as it was recorded when Pitbull was a Slip-N-Slide artist, and prior to him signing with TVT Records.[25] A US District Court judge affirmed the decision further.[26] TVT was then ordered in March 2007 to pay Slip-n-Slide $9.1 million for attempting to block the album's release to record stores and digital download entities.[27]

In 2005, Pitbull and rapper Sean 'Diddy' Combs co-founded Bad Boy Latino, a subsidiary of Combs' Bad Boy Records label. It primarily focuses on Latin hip hop, Latin soul, Latin pop and other tropical music and has offices in New York and Miami, Florida.[28][29] Along with co-founding it, Prez currently heads the A&R division of the label.[30][31][32]

In January 2006, Pitbull guest-starred in UPN's South Beach. Pitbull recorded "Nuestro Himno" in collaboration with Wyclef Jean, Carlos Ponce, and Olga Tan.[33] On Listennn... the Album, the debut album by Terror Squad member and Miami radio personality DJ Khaled, Pitbull performed on three singles: "Holla at Me" and "Born-N-Raised" alongside other Southern-based rappers.

He dedicated the album to his father, who died in May that year.[34] Along with the usual party-oriented tracks, Pitbull also included politically themed tracks in El Mariel.[35] The album was released on October 31, 2006, and included singles "Bojangles", "Ay Chico (Lengua Afuera)", "Fuego", and duet with Puerto Rican singer Ken-Y, "Dime (Remix)". El Mariel topped the Billboard independent albums chart[36] and peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard 200 and No. 2 on the rap chart.

Pitbull's third album, titled The Boatlift, was released on November 27, 2007, spawned by the single "Secret Admirer" featuring Lloyd on the chorus. Earlier, Pitbull announced that this album would have a more gangsta rap edge than his earlier albums.[37] Subsequent singles included "Go Girl" featuring Trina, and "The Anthem" featuring and produced Lil Jon, that song sampling the hook from the song "El Africano" by Wilfrido Vargas and the beat from the song "Calabria" by Rune RK. "Go Girl" peaked at No. 80 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 36 on the Hot Rap Tracks chart; "The Anthem" No. 36 on the Hot 100 and No.11 on the Hot Rap Tracks.

For his fourth studio album Pitbull Starring in Rebelution, Pitbull released "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)" through Ultra Records after his former label TVT Records went out of business. "Krazy" peaked at No. 30 on the Hot 100 and No. 11 on the Hot Rap Tracks charts. "I Know You Want Me" peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100 and peaked within the top ten spots of charts in the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, and the Netherlands. The song reached No. 1 in France and the European Hot 100 in the week ending August 29, 2009 according to Billboard magazine. "I Know You Want Me" ended at position 17 on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2009. He later signed with Polo Grounds Music through Sony Music and created his own label Mr. 305 Inc.[41] The single "Hotel Room Service", which samples "Push the Feeling On", peaked at No. 9 on the Hot 100. The album went on to sell over 7.5 million worldwide digital singles and albums combined.[42][43]

On their second collaboration since "Go Girl", Pitbull appeared on the debut single of rapper David Rush (formerly Young Bo$$), "Shooting Star", also with Kevin Rudolf and LMFAO. An amateur video of Pitbull punching a disruptive audience member at a Colorado concert leaked onto the Internet in late May 2009. Pitbull explained to MTV News that it was because the fan kept throwing cash around the stage, and after Pitbull pulled him up to the stage, he threw a stash of money right in Pitbull's face.[44] He was tapped by the Miami Dolphins to work alongside T-Pain and Jimmy Buffett to release a new fight song for the Dolphins.[45] The city of Miami granted Pitbull a "Key to the City" honor on August 19, 2009.[46] Another popular single from 2009 was "Blanco", featuring Pharrell Williams of The Neptunes from the soundtrack to the movie Fast & Furious. Pitbull recorded a remix with Mexican pop diva Paulina Rubio for her single "Ni Rosas Ni Juguetes" in November 2009.

In 2010, Pitbull performed the rap section in the Haiti benefit song "Somos El Mundo", a Spanish version of "We Are the World", that included a huge group of Latin artists led by Emilio and Gloria Estefan. He was also a featured guest on Janet Jackson's "Heart, Beat, Love" in addition to "Armada Latina", the fourth single off the album Rise Up by Latin rap legends, Cypress Hill.[47] The song was produced by Jim Jonsin and also features American salsa singer Marc Anthony. Pitbull then collaborated with Alexandra Burke on the single "All Night Long".[48] He was also featured on "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" by Usher.

Pitbull released his full-length debut Spanish-language album titled Armando on November 2, 2010. He was also one of the most nominated artists of the 2011 Billboard Latin Music Awards.[49] He garnered seven nominations for "Latin Rhythm Airplay, Song of the Year" for "Bon, Bon"; "Latin Rhythm Airplay, Artist of the Year, Solo Artist"; "Latin Rhythm Albums, Album of the Year" for Armando; "Latin Rhythm Albums, Artist of the Year, Solo Artist"; "Social 50, Latin Artist of the Year"; "Latin Digital Download of the Year" for "Bon, Bon" and "Hot Latin Song of the Year, Vocal Event" for the song "I Like It" alongside Enrique Iglesias. He also won Telehit's award for "Most Popular Artist".[50]

In April 2011, Jennifer Lopez released Love?, which featured Pitbull on two singles. "Fresh Out the Oven" did not meet with critical or popular success, but the second cut, "On the Floor", was a certified hit. The single went on to make its Billboard Hot 100 debut at number nine, becoming the highest debuting Hot 100 single of Lopez's career.[51]

On March 22, 2011, Pitbull released his second single, "Give Me Everything", which features American R&B singer Ne-Yo, American singer Nayer and Dutch DJ Afrojack, who also produced the song and co-wrote it with Matt Howard, Pitbull and Ne-Yo.; three months later, the song became Pitbull's first single to top the Billboard Hot 100. It was ranked No. 5 on the 2011 Billboard Year-End Chart.[53][54]

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