Pitbull (singer) life and biography

Armando Christian Perez, better known by his stage name Pitbull, is an American recording artist. His first recorded performance was from the Lil Jon album Kings of Crunk in 2002, after which he released his debut album in 2004 titled M.I.A.M.I. (short for Money Is a Major Issue) under TVT Records. Since then, he has released two other albums under the label, El Mariel in 2006 and The Boatlift in 2007. He is also the host of his own Spanish-language program on the cable channel Mun2 titled La Esquina (Spanish for The Corner).

Pérez was born to first-generation Cuban immigrant parents who made him recite the works of poet José Martí. He was also influenced and the Miami bass genre of hip hop music. Pitbull's parents separated when he was young and he was raised by his mother. He later spent time with a foster family in Roswell, Georgia.
He began rapping in high school and was inspired by Nas, The Notorious B.I.G. and Big Pun. At age 16, his mother kicked him out of their house after he became a drug dealer. He then graduated Coral Gables High School and focused his career in rapping. After meeting Irv Gotti, Pitbull met Luther Campbell of 2 Live Crew, who encouraged him to rap battle on radio. He expressed interest in the West coast and East coast genres later in life.

Pitbull explained the reason behind choosing his stage name, saying that the dog "bite[s] 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."
After meeting Lil Jon in Miami, Pitbull was featured on Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz' album Kings of Crunk in 2002. Pitbull's song "Oye" was featured on the soundtrack to the film 2 Fast 2 Furious the following year. In addition, Pitbull also released several mixtapes, composed of freestyles and remixes of popular rap music. Campbell featured Pitbull in his single "Lollipop".

In 2004, Pitbull released his debut album M.I.A.M.I., with the lead single being "Culo" ("butt" in English; can be used as "ass" in context) produced by Lil Jon and the Diaz Brothers. It peaked at #32 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #11 on the Hot Rap Tracks chart.
Other singles included "Dammit Man", "Back Up", "Toma", and "That's Nasty" (both featuring Lil Jon). He joined the Anger Management Tour, the 2005 hip-hop concert tour headlined by Eminem and 50 Cent.
Pitbull also appeared on the Ying Yang Twins' single "Shake", which peaked at #41 on the Hot 100 and #12 on the rap chart, and Twista's "Hit the Floor" (#94 Hot 100, #20 Rap). Remix album Money Is Still a Major Issue was released in November 2005; it included new track "Everybody Get Up", a duet with hip-hop/R&B group Pretty Ricky.

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 that Pitbull recorded with Slip-N-Slide in 2001. A judge in Miami made a decision allowing Slip-N-Slide to release the album, and a U.S. District Court judge affirmed the decision further.In March 2007, TVT was ordered to pay Slip-N-Slide $9.1 million for blocking the album release.

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

El Mariel, Pitbull's second album, was released in October 2006. The title was in reference to the boat that transported Cuban refugees to Florida in the movie Scarface. He dedicated the album to his father, who died that year in May. Along with the usual party-oriented tracks, Pitbull also included politically-themed tracks in El Mariel. 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 and peaked at #17 on the Billboard 200 and #2 on the rap chart.

Pitbull's third album, titled The Boatlift, was released in November 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. 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 #80 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #36 on the Hot Rap Tracks chart; "The Anthem" #36 on the Hot 100 and #11 on the Hot Rap Tracks.

His variety show, Pitbull's La Esquina, debuted May 2007 on the mun2 cable network. On December 21, 2007, Pitbull was arrested for drunk driving; he posted $1,000 on bail and pleaded not guilty. He was later acquitted from the charge. Pitbull also appeared on DJ Laz' "Move Shake Drop" and DJ Felli Fel's "Feel It".

For his latest album Rebelution, Pitbull released singles through Ultra Records: "Krazy" (featuring Lil Jon) and "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)" after his former label TVT Records went out of business.
"Krazy" peaked at #30 on the Hot 100 and #11 on the Hot Rap Tracks charts. "I Know You Want Me" peaked at #2 on the Hot 100 and peaked within the top ten spots of charts in the UK, Canada, Italy, and the Netherlands.
The song reached #1 in France and the European Hot 100 on the week ending August 29, 2009 according to Billboard magazine.

He later signed with Polo Grounds Music through Sony Music and created his own label Mr. 305 Inc. Other singles included "Blanco" featuring Pharrell Williams of The Neptunes and "Hotel Room Service", the latter of which peaked at #9 on the Hot 100.
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 on the Internet in late May 2009.
Pitbull explained to MTV News that it was because the fan kept throwing cash around the stage. He has been tapped by the Miami Dolphins to work alongside T-Pain & Jimmy Buffett to release a new fight song for the Dolphins. The city of Miami granted Pitbull a "Key to the City" honor on August 19.

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 "Armada Latina", the fourth single off the album Rise Up by Latin rap legends, Cypress Hill. The song was produced by Jim Jonsin and also features Marc Anthony.
Pitbull then collaborated with Alexandra Burke on the single "All Night Long". He was also featured on "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" by Usher.

Pitbull also released his full-length debut Spanish-language album titled Armando on November 2, 2010. Pitbull is also one of the most nominated artists of the upcoming Latin Billboard awards.
He garnered 7 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”.

Pitbull released his highly anticipated follow-up English album, Planet Pit, on June 21, 2011. Pitbull collaborated with T-Pain on its first single, "Hey Baby (Drop It To The Floor)".

Pitbull announced he’s the spokesperson for Voli Vodka, in which he holds a majority equity stake.
Pitbull has also collaborated with Jennifer Lopez on her single "On the Floor". On March 22, 2011, Pitbull released his second single, "Give Me Everything" featuring Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer, and three months later, the song became Pitbull's first single to top the Billboard Hot 100.
On May 2, 2011, Pitbull and Mýa appeared on WWE Monday Night RAW to celebrate Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's birthday.
Pitbull will be touring Australia as part of Iglesias’ “Euphoria” tour in July 2011. Pitbull appeared as musical guest on Conan on August 1, 2011.

On August 22, 2011, Lindsay Lohan sued Pitbull, Ne-Yo and Afrojack in response to "Give Me Everything"'s lyrics referencing her name.

On October 7, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding J Records along with Arista Records and Jive Records. With the shutdown, Pitbull (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) will release his future material on the RCA Records brand.

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