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Pitbull marking his territory in hip-hop
11/22/2006 12:47 PM, AP
Adrian Sainz
Pitbull can bark with the best of them. Sitting in the back of a dark South Beach club, surrounded by some of Miami's biggest bouncers and bustiest booty shakers, the Miami rapper riffs on a myriad of issues as he promotes his second CD, "El Mariel."
The Cuban-American routinely mixes Spanish and English, using a healthy amount of curse words in both languages but still coming across as friendly and genuine.
"I don't try to sugarcoat (stuff)," he says.
Tutored by Miami rap king Luther Campbell and assisted by Atlanta crunk master Lil' Jon, Pitbull's music talks street life, women, family and the drug world. His rhythms are formed by bass-heavy beats reminiscent of '80s "booty" music, plus more up-to-date hip-hop licks and Latin sounds.
His second CD also combines introspection with party music. It's entitled "El Mariel" in remembrance of the more than 100,000 Cubans who left the Fidel Castro-controlled Cuba in 1980 aboard boats bound for United States. He chose the title because he can relate to the struggles dealt with by Mariel Cubans. They survived in their new country despite dealing with language barriers, culture shock and a bad reputation stemming from a relatively small group of criminals that came to the United States in the boatlift.
"A lot of doors was closed for Pitbull just like they were closed for Marielitos," said the rapper, who struggled before getting his break in the late 1990s. "I'm just here to prove everybody wrong and let them know that my cause is a good one at the end of the day and I've got a message. My message is to unify everything that going on with the Latins and the blacks and everything."
Pitbull, whose real name is Armando Perez, grew up separated from his father, living with his mother in urban Miami, then living with a foster family in Georgia before returning home. Sometimes he hit the streets to make money.
"I always had a lot of discipline — my discipline was I jumped in the street, got the money I needed to get, and jumped right back out," he said. "I'd come home and tell my mother, `Hey we got the rent paid for six months, but my money was never to go spend on bull----. My money was always to pay for bills and make sure we was straight."
He says he also educated himself in the process.
"I came from nothing and until the day I die I'll act like I came from nothing," he said. "And when I sit down at a table and I need to have a sophisticated conversation in Spanish or English and let them know that I'm an intelligent ... but at the same time I'm street smart — which no university, no high school, no program, no nothing is going to teach you unless you go through it — I know I got the upper edge."
Pitbull's childhood coincided with the cocaine cowboy and Miami Vice eras. He then became an adult in the heyday of the South Beach club life. His music and hip-hop persona reflect that flashiness, bawdiness and multiculturalism that distinguishes Miami, and its rappers.
Campbell, known as Uncle Luke nowadays, brought raunchy rap to the American consciousness but has stayed in Miami, becoming the elder statesman of a local rap movement that today includes Trick Daddy, Trina and Rick Ross.
But Pitbull's influence go further than the Miami rappers 2 Live Crew and Poison Clan. They include Latin acts such as Willy Chirino and Celia Cruz, freestyle performer Stevie B, and hip-hop giants like Nas, Snoop Dogg and Notorious B.I.G.
Still, he's pure hip-hop. He's not reggaeton — the mix of reggae and Caribbean rhythms that usually has Spanish lyrics and a more limited range of beats and rhythms than hip-hop — and he wants people to know the difference.
"I don't do reggaeton — not that I don't like it: It's not my (thing)."
Pitbull said he's learned a lot since his first CD — the politics business while also getting involved with charity work and the Voto Latino drive, which encourages Hispanics to vote.
He's also filming videos, drawing crowds in public and generally enjoying more attention than before his debut CD in 2004.
"People actually respect what I do now," he said, "and if they don't they're starting to pay attention."
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