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hat’s the biggest flip side of success? Oh, man, it’s not what people think. People have the misconception that it’s just niggas ballin’, but a lot of niggas out here ain’t got shit. They’re broke as shit, so don’t let the game fool you. Niggas may have a chain or two and act like they got a lil bit of paper, but it’s short-lived. I’m tryin’ to make this shit. I’m runnin’ a marathon, not a sprint. I think that’s the biggest misconception. I used to watch the game and I knew it was goin’ on, but I didn’t know it was so much of it goin’ on. A lot of guys that you think have a lot of shit don’t have a damn thing. It’s just a blessing. I thank God every day for the opportunities I’ve been given. Sometimes it’s hard to believe I’m in the position I’m in. If you really think about the whole Pitbull movement, I’ve got a lane of my own, you know? I can rap with the Trick Daddys and the Rick Rosses or the Young Jeezys, I can rap with the Daddy Yankees and the Don Omars, or you can put me with the Lil Jons and the Young Scrappys. I’ve got such a broad range of everything with all the different markets that I touch. It’s a blessing. Do you think this album has more of a street/mixtape feel to it than your first album, which came off as being super commercial? This album is going to have the records that keep me alive. Remember, I’ve got a gold album, and I was on the road for two and a half years. I ain’t like platinum muthafuckers. I’m still on the road off that album. So yeah, you’re gonna have your commercial shit [on the album], but that’s what the mixtapes are for. On this album, you are gonna have more records for the street. But also, I think that on the first album, it was the sequencing. It was like one after another. Club record, bitch record, bitch record, club record, and then finally you got to some of the meat that niggas know me for on the street. So with this album, I put street records, maybe one club record, street records, club record, bitch record. I don’t think it’ll be the same. But I’ve got so many different markets I gotta feed. You might be looking for more of that mixtape shit, but there’s other muthafuckers that’s listening for “Culo” and all that type of shit. Do you have a favorite on this album? Yeah, it’s called “Blood Is Thicker Than Water,” featuring Red Eyes. What’s going on with some of the other artists you’re affiliated with, like Cubo, Piccalo, and B.A.N.G.? B.A.N.G. is a part of the camp, Big Teach, Big Mouth Marketing & Promotions, he’s managing them right now so I’m definitely involved in the project to a certain extent. Cubo, Piccalo, and I got this cat out of Lil Havana I’m gonna be doing something with. I’m gonna be doing some things with Southbeat Records, getting involved with what they do as far as developing artists and just trying to build something from the ground up. Did Lil Jon do a lot of production for El Mariel, your new album? Jon did two tracks, and I also worked with Mr. Collipark, Jim Jonsin, Pharrell, the Diaz Brothers, and a lot of local, up and coming cats. I know you had a little friction with TVT Records, has that been smoothed out? Yeah, it’s smoothed out. It’s like a family, you’re always gonna run into problems and situations. My beef wasn’t about me, it was more about Jon. Take care of him. That’s the way I look at it: If Jon ain’t happy, I ain’t happy. He’s happy now, so I’m happy and we can move forward. Jon knows how to evolve and do different types of music. He did some crazy club shit for my records, some Afro-Cuban crazy shit. We call it voodoo. What’s been going on with you personally since your last album? Personally, just living a better life now. I got myself some property. My family’s living good, everybody’s good, and I’m just trying to make sure that we create a pipeline where it’s always there. You never know with this rap shit. Here today, gone today. What motivated you to name your album El Mariel and draw attention to the things happening in Cuba today? El Mariel was a boat lift in 1980, 1981. My father was involved with a boat lift. He brought three boats over, bringing 547 people to freedom. El Mariel was basically a quest for freedom, and that’s the way I see myself in this game. They’re always trying to categorize Pit as “crunk” or “reggaetone,” but I’m not. I just do music. It’s one thing that’ll never fail, never run out of gas, and that’s good music. You can categorize it however you want, but a hit record is a hit record. That’s why I named the album El Mariel, because this is my boat lift, it’s my quest in 2006. And it’s also to educate people with what’s been going on in my culture, my history. There are still boats that come over to the U.S. from Cuba.
Oh yeah. They risk their lives doing the ninety mile journey. They usually make it to the Keys. They’re the ones that make the ’62 Chevys into fuckin’ boats and shit. Why are people in Cuba willing to risk their lives to come to America? It’s terrible in Cuba because it’s no freedom, you know? Think about it. You can’t state your opinion. If you say anything bad about [Cuban President Fidel] Castro you go to prison. If you sell meat on the streets you go to prison for 25 years. It’s certain things that are fucked up. They wanna come over to a land where they can take advantage of opportunities and better their life, like a lot of us have done, thank God. Being so marketable, you have a lot of other avenues to promote yourself. Are you planning on going into movies or fashion? I got a lot of other avenues, but I’m having a hard time with endorsements cause I’m asking for percentages. I don’t want an advance, dawg. You can keep the advance. I want a percentage on cases, on shoes sold, on clothing sold. When I find the right situation and my name builds enough clout to where I can get that out of the deal, it is what it is. But you know, patience. That’s all I’m about. The slow grind is the fa’ sho’ grind. Do you see the Miami movement becoming even bigger than what we’re seeing now? It’s only going to become bigger if people come together and unite and continue to do that, but if there’s gonna be friction within the county and within the city, it’s gonna stay stagnant. Pitbull forever will keep doing his thing. Do you think there is friction in Miami? I don’t think there’s friction, but there might be little rumors here and there. I don’t pay attention to none of that shit, I just hope it’s not true. If it’s true, it’s very disappointing. You’ve been pretty vocal in the past about the perceived disrespect that you felt from New Yorkers towards the South. Have you seen the situation getting better over the last few years? I think it’s gotten better and at the same time worse. It’s contradictory and ironic, because now they’re like, “Them South niggas done took everything over and they ain’t rappin’ about shit.” But nigga, we been doing this shit. And like I said before, it was a blessing for them niggas to not pay attention to us cause all it did was show us how to grind. Just like you did with your magazine, we did with our music. And we’ve come together, and I think that’s what really enforced the whole movement – everybody knowin’ each other. At the same time, now that the South is hot, it seems like all the labels are quick to sign somebody from the South. Do you think it’s too easy now and we’re going to lose that grind? Maybe for the up and coming cats. Maybe it’s a little different. But hopefully the grind was instilled in them from before. With someone like Rick Ross or Jeezy, and even yourself to some extent, they get a lot of criticism from mainstream America for glamorizing drug dealing and things like that – when you talk about it, do you feel like there’s a larger purpose, like hustling in life or in general? You know, we took the street life and applied it to the game, and these niggas are just rapping about what they know. I know the same shit, I’d just rather rap about it in a different sense, meaning that when the Feds come and see me, all they’re gonna find is CDs. No weight, dawg. I’m done with that life, bro. And that life made me who I am, but that doesn’t mean I gotta glorify that shit. I ain’t out there tryin’ to get it like that, I’m tryin’ to get it in the music. I just talk about it in the past tense. As for them, that’s how they get it across. Them dope boys love them niggas, you know, because they feel like they do. But do I feel that it’s negative? No, because they’re just talkin’ about their life, just like a movie. Rappers are ghetto poets. And as far as Rick Ross, I’d like to congratulate him on having the number one album in the country when it came out. And Trick’s [new album] is on its way out too now. Khaled, congratulations. Dre, he’s on his way out. Myself, everybody. It’s a beautiful movement. It seems like the DJs and radio stations in Miami really do support their own movement, but some people disagree. What’s your opinion? Before, they didn’t. But now, it’s the total opposite. I’m blessed to be ridin’ with the movement at the right time. Everybody’s been seeing everybody grind down here; that’s why I get so much respect. I remember seein’ Rick Ross on 79th Street passin’ out CDs, sellin’ them shits out of the trunk of the car for $5. That was back in like 2000, 2001, you know? And now he sees me, I see him, workin’ in music, or seein’ each other in the street. That’s what makes this movement so special. 83