Pitbull – Booking

Pitbull is an American rapper and Latin Grammy winning artist from Miami, Florida. He has released seven albums and one EP.

Pitbull was born to Cuban expatriates in Miami, Florida. When he was 3, he could recite the works of Cuba’s national hero and poet, José Martí. He encountered problems early in his career as a rapper because of his physical appearance. He was also influenced by the Miami bass genre of pop music and has cited Celia Cruz and Willy Chirino as sources of inspiration for his music. He attended South Miami Senior High School before graduating from Miami Coral Park High School and focused his career on rapping.

He said he chose his stage name because pitbulls « 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 ». 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 2001, Pitbull was signed to Luther Campbell’s Luke Records by Jullian Boothe, then the label’s vice-president of A&R. 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. »
Fernandez introduced Pitbull to Lil Jon with a mind to trying 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 Pérez and went one better by offering him his own track on the album called « Pitbull’s Cuban Ride Out », a feature that would help raise the young rapper’s profile.

In 2004, Pitbull released his debut album M.I.A.M.I., with the lead single being « Culo » produced by Lil Jon and the Diaz Brothers. It peaked at No. 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 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 2000 hip-hop concert tour headlined by Eminem and 50 Cent. Pitbull also appeared on the Ying Yang Twins’ single « Shake ».
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. Along with co-founding it, Pérez currently heads the A&R division of the label.

Pitbull 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 three singles: « Holla at Me » and « Born-N-Raised » alongside other Southern-based rappers.

He dedicated the album « El Mariel » to his father, who died in May of that year. 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 No. 17 on the Billboard 200 and No. 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.

For his fourth studio album Rebelution, Pitbull released « I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho) » through Ultra Records after his former label TVT Records went out of business. « I Know You Want Me » peaked at No. 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 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 . The album went on to sell over 7.5 million worldwide digital singles and albums combined.

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. 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, 2009. Another popular single from 2009 was « Blanco », featuring Pharrell Williams of The Neptunes from the soundtrack to the movie Fast & Furious.

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. 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 Billboard Latin Music Awards.

In April 2011 Jennifer Lopez released « Love? » which featured Pitbull on two singles. « 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.
Pitbull released Planet Pit, on June 21, 2011. Pitbull collaborated with T-Pain on its first single, which became a moderate hit; « Hey Baby (Drop It to the Floor) ».

On March 22, 2011, Pitbull released his second single, « Give Me Everything »; three months later, the song became Pitbull’s first single to top the Billboard Hot 100. The song features American R&B singer Ne-Yo, American singer Nayer and Dutch disc jockey Afrojack who also produced the song and co-wrote it with Matt Howard, Pitbull and Ne-Yo.

Pitbull’s seventh studio album was titled « Global Warming » and released on November 19, 2012. Pitbull explained that the title reflected the fact that, much like the phenomenon of global warming, he’s been around for a while but all of a sudden, people are paying attention. The lead single from the album was « Get It Started » featuring singer Shakira. The third single was Feel This Moment featuring Christina Aguillera.
Pitbull supported the album with a world tour in the summer on 2013.

In 2013, Pitbull released a diss track towards Lil’ Wayne called « Welcome 2 Dade County » shortly after Lil’ Wayne’s rant on the Miami Heat. Pitbull made his film debut Epic with a voice role of the character « Bufo ». He embarked on the North American / Australian Summer Tour with Kesha to promote both their albums, which extends from May to November. He released his song Feel This Moment featuring Christina Aguilera in January 18, 2013 and they performed it live at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards, as well as on the fourth season of America’s The Voice. The song was a commercial success, peaking at 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. Later he released final single from his Global Warming album, Outta Nowhere featuring Danny Mercer in late May.

Pitbull was featured on the early summer single Live It Up, marking his third collaboration with Jennifer Lopez and Redone. The duo performed the song at the Billboard Music Awards, American Idol and Premios Juventud. He also made album appearances for Priyanka Chopra, Flo Rida, Jessica Mauboy, Belinda, Jason Derulo and other artists. Pitbull provided the post-race concert at the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas on November 17, 2013. Pitbull hosted the American Music Awards of 2013 on November 24, 2013.
Pitbull, Jennifer Lopez and Claudia Leitte performed the song « We Are One » at the opening ceremony of the 2014 World Cup.

On February 25, 2014, Pitbull released a new single titled « Wild Wild Love » featuring American recording artist group G.R.L

In June 2014, it was announced that Pitbull would be receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

On July 23, 2014, Pitbull released another single titled « Fireball », which features singer John Ryan. Along with this, he also announced that the name of his eighth studio album would be Globalization.