Armando Christian Pérez, Pitbull in the artistic world, is an American singer, rapper, songwriter, and music producer of Cuban descent, born on January 15, 1981, in Miami, Florida, United States. He has two sisters from his mother's previous marriages. His childhood was marked by great instability due to his mother's alcoholism, who had been sexually abused by her cousins during her childhood and was also a victim of violence from her own mother. He lived for a time with neighbors who had two children his age and were in the same school until his mother found a job and was able to recover. Pitbull's mother emigrated to the United States through Operation Peter Pan, which the artist has been grateful for, as it allowed him to be born in a free country.
His stage name was adopted thanks to a friend who, upon hearing him rap in his early freestyle years, told him that he did with words what a dog of that breed does—once it catches its prey, it never lets go. He is also known as Mr. 305 or Mr. Worldwide.
The first steps of his successful music career were taken in hip hop. It was the 1990s when Pitbull recorded the track "Lollipop" with Luke, the singer of 2 Live Crew. In 2003, he collaborated on the album Kings of Crunk, alongside Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz. Some of the tracks were included in the soundtrack of the second installment of The Fast & The Furious.
In 2005, Pitbull released his first album, M.I.A.M.I., where he fused hip-hop with reggaeton and sold 500,000 copies. From that moment on, his career became unstoppable, leading to collaboration requests from other artists and highlighting the uniqueness of his persona.
In her next album, Mariel—named in tribute to her father who emigrated from Cuba in the 80s during the opening of that port—she appears alongside Shakira, Wyclef Jean, among others.
With his fourth album The Boatlift, he manages to place the song "I Know You Want Me" in second place on the Billboard Hot 100. Three years later, the single “Give Me Everything” from his fifth album Armando reaches number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Many of his songs have topped the charts in countries across Europe, America, and the United States itself.
He recorded songs for movie soundtracks: Men in Black 3 (2012), The Penguins of Madagascar (2013). In 2019, he lent his voice to the character of the dog in the children's film Ugly Dolls, where he also contributed to the music. He has participated in charitable campaigns, such as recording the song "We Are the World" alongside other renowned artists, aimed at raising funds for the victims of the earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010. Additionally, he has served as the host for events like the American Music Awards (2014).
In 2013, he contributed to the creation and funding of a public educational center, Sports Leadership and Management, in Little Havana, the neighborhood of his childhood, where he aims to foster the development and education of young people through their connection with sports and a method that combines fun with learning.
He has collaborated with well-known representatives of international music: Jennifer López, Shakira, Marc Anthony, Enrique Iglesias, Eminem, Usher, Christina Aguilera, Kesha, Chris Brown, among others.
Discs: 2004: M.I.A.M.I. (Money is a Major Issue), 2006: El Mariel, 2007: The Boatlift, 2009: Rebelution, 2010: Armando, 2011: Planet Pit, 2012: Global Warming, 2014: Globalization, 2015: Dale, 2017: Climate Change, 2019: Libertad 548
He was appointed Mayor of Little Havana in 2018.
At the beginning of 2020, he became embroiled in a controversy with Gente de Zona that generated significant criticism from his Cuban fans, in addition to statements from some Cuban artists against him. The group Gente de Zona, which is based in Miami but performs in Cuba with the consent of the Cuban government, had publicly acknowledged Miguel Díaz Canel as their president during one of their performances, and they shared the stage with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, the grandson and head of Personal Security for the Cuban leader Raúl Castro. This sparked considerable outrage within the Cuban exile community, which harshly questioned the stance of the two members of the duo residing in the United States, even raising concerns about the potential revocation of their permanent residency Green Card.
The reaction from the Cuban exile community was swift, leading to the cancellation of the duo's performance at the New Year's Eve concert in 2019 held at Bayfront Park in Miami, where they were set to perform alongside others, including Pitbull, who took the opportunity to send greetings to the Cuban duo, stating that “music is music and politics is politics.”
A flood of accusations were made against the singer, who later admitted in an interview that he might not have even known the extent of what was really behind it when he greeted Randy and Alexander during his performance. Pitbull apologized and stated that he is fully integrated and aware of the needs of the Cuban exile community and that his role will continue to be one of unification.
He has a record label, Mr. 305 Records, with which the Cuban singer Lenier Mesa signed in August 2020. He had previously collaborated in 2019 with the American artist on the song "Me quedaré contigo" alongside Ne-Yo and El Micha, a track featured by Pitbull in his tenth album, Libertad 548.
In August 2020, the Cuban singer Yomil announced that Pitbull would be preparing a special tribute along with the popular DJ IamChino for El Dany, a well-known member of the Cuban duo Yomil y El Dany, who passed away in Havana on July 18, 2020.
