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I’ve been able to learn the game through the school of hard knocks. I got a chance to create a fan base, a foundation of people who love Pitbull and know Pitbull as a person. I think I’m blessed to be versatile and to be able to tap dance through so many different cultures.”
You’ve got Hurricane who is constantly growing, learning more and more about the industry. You’ve got Nina Sky, who is an international , global-wide group who’s just one hit away, and then myself. I think I bring experience and knowledge, I’m someone who is hungry, and I’m always there to help out no matter what. I think from all aspects of the game, I just don’t corner myself in one market. What direction are you going with on your new album? It’s called Rebelution, and it’s basically a tour through Miami. I’m going to give you street records, deep records, club records, and then you’re gonna have obviously the pop records. I’m looking at a September 1st release. You have records like “Crazy” on there, and “Blanco” with Pharrell, which is The Fast and Furious single. And then you got the “Calle Ocho (I Know You Want Me)” record which is number 3 in the country right now. My next single is called “Hotel Room Service” and that’s produced by Jim Jonsin. You’ve had a lot of hits in your past, but none have been as commercially successful as your recent singles “Calle Ocho” and “Hotel Room Service.” After such a long time in the game, how does it feel to finally get to a point where you’re being recognized on a mainstream level? It just goes to show that the independent grind is definitely the way to go. I mean, I hooked up with a major label now, Sony/Polo Grounds, which is a venture deal with 305 Inc., and I also have a distribution deal with Sony Latin, but I’m a firm believer that good music goes a long way. As far as people not understanding what I do or overlooking it, I kind of fly under the radar, and I’ve enjoyed flying under the radar, but now that I’ve hooked up with a major label now and I have a machine behind me, we gon’ see where it goes from there. You definitely had a lack of promotion with your last situation at TVT, but I wouldn’t exactly say you were under the radar. You sold hundreds of thousands of albums and millions of digital downloads. Well as far as flying under the radar, a lot of artists get major promotion and the record becomes larger than them. They’ll have a big record but you won’t really know who the artist is. What I’ve been able to do is learn the game through the school of hard knocks based on what went down at TVT. I got a chance to create a fan base, a foundation of people who actually love Pitbull and know Pitbull as a person, and that gives me a chance to go out now and make a record like “Calle Ocho” and get new fans. I think I’m blessed to be versatile and to be able to tap dance through so many different cultures. That’s how I’ve been able to fly under the radar but still build a foundation; it’s been a blessing in disguise.
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Being able to “tap dance through so many different cultures” is a perfect description of you as an artist, but that makes it hard to define the typical Pitbull fan. How would you describe your average listener? Honestly, I think most of my fans are women. Tupac said it best, if you ain’t got women fans listening to your records or buying your records then you ain’t doin’ nothing right. Personally, I’m more of a fan of [Notorious] B.I.G., but I respected ‘Pac’s music. So to be able to appeal to the women is important. Women, in my opinion are the fans with the best promotion—word of mouth. If they like something, they tell all their friends. As far as appealing to everyone, a lot of cats want to be street. A lot of cats tend to be afraid of losing their credibility, but to me those are the cats that don’t really know the streets, or have credibility in the first place. The people that buy their records are the ones that wanna be street and have never seen the streets in their entire life. But definitely with this new album I’m going to be able to showcase a whole lot more because I’m free now. I’m able to actually do records with other artists and do what I do best. You’ve always been a big advocate of the Cuban embargo being lifted. Has there been any progress in that fight? To be honest with you, I haven’t heard too much. What we’ve been trying to do is basically get the ability to go over to Cuba more than once every three years. Before, they had it where you could only go to Cuba once every three years—I can’t go to Cuba, personally. I would love to go, and I’ve been there before, but that was before my name got to certain point. So if I go to Cuba now, people would basically feel like I’m putting money in a Communist’s pocket. But I think we’re definitely stepping in the right direction. There’s nothing wrong with dreaming, right? I dream of a free Cuba one day. You personally decided not to go to Cuba anymore, or you’re prohibited by the government? I can go over there, but if people find out that I’m over there, it’s not good. For one, if I’m in Cuba, Americans have no rights over there and I don’t know what they would do to me because I do speak out against the [Cuban] government. And two, the people in America would question me for supporting the [Cuban] regime. It’s some bullshit if you ask me, because I just want to go over there to see family and shit like that, but unfortunately that’s just the way it is. Your resume includes tracks like “Dirty” and “Melting Pot,” which are reflection records nothing like most of the pop music many people associate you with. My favorite Pit’ line is “Y’all look at these blue skies and think paradise / I look at these blue skies and think what a disguise.” It seems like a lot of people
have no clue that you can actually spit about serious topics. I love that, because it’s a surprise to many people, and that’s how you make new fans. Dudes come to my shows and they’re like, “Damn, I didn’t know Pit could spit like that.” And at the show they’re surrounded by the most beautiful women in the city, which really makes them love it even more. So instead of going to a club with a bunch of goons and wannabe thugs, you can come to the Pitbull show, be around the sexiest women in the city, and at the same time get a good show and good music. It’s the best of both worlds. How did “Shooting Star” with you, David Rush, Kevin Rudolf, and LMFAO come about? Actually, David Rush is my artist. He’s signed to my label Mr. 305 Inc., and I found him on Myspace. He’s definitely very talented and somebody to look out for. That song “Superstar” is picking on up on Top 40 stations, so look out for that. I heard you’re also working with The Backstreet Boys? Yeah, I ended up working with Backstreet Boys through Jim Jonsin, actually. He’s producing on some tracks for their album and one of them happened to be a fan of mine, so they asked Jim if he could get me on the album and Jim told them, “Pitbull is like my brother, no problem.” So Jim gave me the track, and the track sounded good. They’re definitely trying to go in a new direction and I think Jim will get ‘em there. It was a pleasure being able to work with The Backstreet Boys, as successful as they’ve been over the years. Boy band or not, they were successful. It’s hard to be successful in the music business. You’re the type of artist who can work with a group like The Backstreet Boys and just as easily sound good on a Lil’ Jon track. Do you think being so diverse musically and not really having a set genre has hindered you at all? I think it’s the new wave of the music business, and the first person to really turn people’s heads and make them say, “Oh, shit!” was T-Pain. T-Pain can out-rap most of the muthafuckas out. People think he can’t sing, but he can actually sing, he just puts autotune on his shit. He’s so talented he’s making it okay to be multi-talented; before it wasn’t like that, but like Rick Ross told you [in regards to] the whole 50 Cent [beef ], “It’s all about making good music.” Ja Rule put out a bunch of muthafuckin’ hit records, and then 50 Cent came along and talked shit about Ja for singing on records. Next thing you know, [50] goes out and starts singing on records. So it’s really all about making good music. Those who are talented and humble, and work hard and grind, will always prevail; I happen to be one of those people. But without the fans, there’s no Pitbull, so I appreciate them for always being there for me. //