1998–2003: Luke Records and TVT Records He said he chose his stage name of Pitbull because the dogs "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". In 2001, Pitbull was signed to
Luther Campbell's
Luke Records by Jullian Boothe, then the label's vice-president of A&R. Pitbull was featured on Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz' album
Kings of Crunk in 2002. Pitbull also appeared on the
Ying Yang Twins' single "Shake", which peaked at No.41 on the Hot 100 and No.12 on the rap chart,
Adassa's chart topping single "Kamasutra" &
Twista's "
Hit the Floor" (#94 Hot 100, No. 20 Rap). The remix album
Money Is Still a Major Issue was released in November 2005; it included new track "
Everybody Get Up", a duet with hip-hop/R&B group
Pretty Ricky.
TVT Records, Pitbull's label at the time, and
Slip-n-Slide Records disputed over the release of
Welcome to the 305, an unreleased album by Slip-n-Slide that Pitbull recorded in 2001. A Miami judge ruled that Slip-n-Slide had a legal right to release the album as it was recorded when Pitbull was a Slip-N-Slide artist, and prior to him signing with TVT Records. A US District Court judge affirmed the decision further. TVT was then ordered in March 2007 to pay Slip-n-Slide $9.1 million for attempting to block the album's release to record stores and digital download entities. In 2005, Pitbull and rapper
Sean "Diddy" Combs co-founded Bad Boy Latino, a subsidiary of Combs's
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.
2006–2007: El Mariel and The Boatlift In January 2006, Pitbull guest-starred in
UPN's
South Beach. 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 to his father, who died in May 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. In 2011, a "Bojangles" remix was released featuring
DJ Lady Tribe, who he toured with at the 2005,
Hot Import Nights tour. Pitbull's third album, titled
The Boatlift, was released on November 27, 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. Subsequent singles included "
Go Girl" featuring
Trina, and "
The Anthem" featuring and produced
Lil Jon, that song sampling the hook from the song "El Africano" by
Wilfrido Vargas and the beat from the song "
Calabria" by
Rune RK. "Go Girl" peaked at No. 80 on the
Billboard Hot 100 and No. 36 on the Hot Rap Tracks chart; "The Anthem" No. 36 on the Hot 100 and No.11 on the Hot Rap Tracks. His variety show, ''Pitbull's La Esquina'', debuted May 2007 and ran through 2009 on the
mun2 cable network. Pitbull also appeared on
DJ Laz' "
Move Shake Drop" and
DJ Felli Fel's "
Feel It".
2008–2010: Pitbull Starring in Rebelution and Armando ,
B96 Jingle Bash, Chicago For his fourth studio album
Pitbull Starring in Rebelution, Pitbull released "
I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)" through
Ultra Records after his former label TVT Records went out of business. "
Krazy" peaked at No. 30 on the Hot 100 and No. 11 on the Hot Rap Tracks charts. "I Know You Want Me" peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100 and peaked within the top ten spots of charts in the United Kingdom, 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 single "
Hotel Room Service", which samples "
Push the Feeling On", peaked at No. 9 on the Hot 100. 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. An amateur video of Pitbull punching a disruptive audience member at a Colorado concert leaked onto the Internet in late May 2009. Pitbull explained to MTV News that it was because the fan kept throwing cash around the stage, and after Pitbull pulled him up to the stage, he threw a stash of money right in Pitbull's face. He was tapped by the
Miami Dolphins to work alongside
T-Pain and
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. Pitbull recorded a remix with Mexican pop diva
Paulina Rubio for her single "
Ni Rosas Ni Juguetes" in November 2009. 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. The song was produced by
Jim Jonsin and also features American salsa singer
Marc Anthony. Pitbull then collaborated with
Alexandra Burke on the single "
All Night Long". He was also featured on "
DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" by
Usher. Pitbull released his full-length debut Spanish-language album titled
Armando on November 2, 2010. He was also one of the most nominated artists of the 2011
Billboard Latin Music Awards. He garnered seven nominations for "Latin Rhythm Airplay, Song of the Year" for "
Bon, Bon"; "Latin Rhythm Airplay, Artist of the Year, Solo Artist"; "Latin Rhythm Albums, Album of the Year" for
Armando; "Latin Rhythm Albums, Artist of the Year, Solo Artist"; "Social 50, Latin Artist of the Year"; "Latin Digital Download of the Year" for "Bon, Bon" and "Hot Latin Song of the Year, Vocal Event" for the song "
I Like It" alongside
Enrique Iglesias. He also won Telehit's award for "Most Popular Artist".
2011: Planet Pit In April 2011,
Jennifer Lopez released
Love?, which featured Pitbull on two singles. "
Fresh Out the Oven" did not meet with critical or popular success, but the second cut, "
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 17, 2011. Pitbull collaborated with T-Pain on its first single, which became a moderate hit; "
Hey Baby (Drop It to the Floor)", which peaked at No. 7 on the Hot 100. On March 22, 2011, Pitbull released his second single, "
Give Me Everything", which features American singers
Ne-Yo and
Nayer as well as Dutch DJ
Afrojack, who also produced the song and co-wrote it with Matt Howard, Pitbull himself and Ne-Yo.; three months later, the song became Pitbull's first single to top the
Billboard Hot 100. It was ranked No. 5 on the 2011
Billboard Year-End Chart. In August 2011,
Lindsay Lohan sued Pitbull, Ne-Yo and Afrojack in response to the song's lyrics referencing her name, "I've got it locked up like Lindsay Lohan." Lohan objected to the negative connotation of the line and claimed that she should have been compensated for the use of her name in the song. The case was dismissed by a federal judge, who ruled the tune's lyrics are protected by the
First Amendment, which covers freedom of speech and creative expression.
2012–2013: Global Warming, Meltdown & Men in Black 3 On October 7, 2011,
RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding
J Records along with
Arista Records and
Jive Records. With the shutdown, Pitbull (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) would release future material on the
RCA Records brand. On May 8, 2012, he collaborated with the Italian DJ
Gabry Ponte for the song "
Beat on My Drum". Pitbull's seventh studio album was titled "Global Warming" and released on November 16, 2012. Pitbull explained that the title reflected the fact that, much like the phenomenon of global warming, he has 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 Aguilera. The second single, entitled "
Back in Time", was for the film
Men in Black 3. It was the first lead single for the
Men in Black franchise not performed by
Will Smith. The song, which plays during the end credits but is not featured on the soundtrack album, samples "
Love Is Strange" by
Mickey & Sylvia. Pitbull supported the album with a world tour in the summer of 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 in
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. In April 2013, Pitbull released "Open Letter (Freestyle)" in response to the controversy surrounding
Jay-Z and
Beyoncé's trip to Cuba, using the track to voice support for the couple while engaging with Cuban-American political identity and taking aim at Senator
Marco Rubio's criticism of the visit. He released his song "
Feel This Moment" featuring
Christina Aguilera on January 18, 2013, and they performed it live at the
2013 Billboard Music Awards, as well as on the
fourth season of
The Voice. The song was a commercial success, peaking at No. 8 on the
Billboard Hot 100. Later he released the final single from his Global Warming album,
Outta Nowhere featuring
Danny Mercer, in late May. At the
2013 Latin Grammy Awards, Pitbull won the award for
Best Urban Performance for his song "
Echa Pa'lla (Manos Pa'rriba)". Pitbull announced via
Twitter that he would release the extended play to his studio album Global Warming, named
Global Warming: Meltdown on November 25, featuring guest appearances from
Kesha,
Kelly Rowland,
Inna,
Mohombi and
Mayer Hawthorne. The lead single, "
Timber", featuring recording artist and tourmate Kesha, was released on October 7. The song peaked at No. 1 on the
Billboard Hot 100 in 18 countries. Pitbull was featured on the early summer single "
Live It Up", marking his third collaboration with
Jennifer Lopez and
Redone. Lopez and Pitbull 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
2013 American Music Awards on November 24, 2013.
2014–2015: Globalization and Dale at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas, 2015 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 recording artist group
G.R.L. It has peaked at number 30 on the
Billboard Hot 100. On April 15, 2014, Pitbull released a single featuring
Jennifer Lopez and
Claudia Leitte called "
We Are One (Ole Ola)" from the compilation album for the FIFA 2014 World Cup
One Love, One Rhythm. In May 2014, it was announced that Pitbull would host and co-produce a live New Year's Eve concert special from Miami for
Fox, ''
Pitbull's New Year's Revolution'', on December 31, 2014. and
Jennifer Lopez performing at the
2014 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony On June 12, 2014, Pitbull performed at the
Arena de São Paulo as part of the
2014 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony. This performance saw him joined by
Jennifer Lopez and
Claudia Leitte to perform the tournament's official song "
We Are One (Ole Ola)". The song drew some controversy for not being a good enough representation of Brazil, which was the host country of the World Cup that year. Critics condemned the song's lyrical content for being filled with
cliches about Brazilian culture, as well as for not containing enough lyrics in Portuguese. Others called it a "bad, boring, replaceable pop song." In June 2014, it was announced that Pitbull would be receiving a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame. On July 8, 2014, Pitbull released a Spanish-language single titled "Como Yo Le Doy" featuring
Don Miguelo. On July 23, 2014, Pitbull released another single titled "
Fireball", which features singer
John Ryan Produced by Honua Music. Around the same time, he announced his eighth studio album
Globalization, which was released on November 21, 2014. On October 18, 2014, Pitbull released another single titled "Celebrate" which was included on the
Penguins of Madagascar soundtrack and later included on the album
Globalization.
Globalization was released alongside single "
Time of Our Lives", which was Pitbull's first top ten hit since "
Timber", peaking at #9 on the Hot 100. It also topped the
Hot Dance Club Songs,
Hot Rap Songs, and
Rhythmic charts. On November 20, 2014, Pitbull released another Spanish-language single titled "Piensas (Dile la Verdad)" featuring
Gente de Zona. On April 21, 2015, Pitbull released his sixth single on the
Globalization album titled "
Fun" featuring
Chris Brown and peaked at number 40 on the Hot 100. On May 8, 2015, Pitbull released a teaser video on Twitter of his upcoming second Spanish studio album and ninth studio album overall titled
Dale. The album was officially released on July 17, 2015, and included the singles "Como Yo Le Doy", "Piensas (Dile la Verdad)", "El Taxi", and "
Baddest Girl in Town". The album led to Pitbull winning his
Grammy Award in the category of
Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album.
2015–2018: Climate Change, Greatest Hits, and Gotti On October 26, 2015, Pitbull released a new single titled "Free.K", which samples
Adina Howard's "
Freak like Me" in the chorus. The song was set to be the first single off his tenth studio album titled
Climate Change. On January 7, 2016, Pitbull premiered the second single from his new album titled "Freedom", which also samples
The Rolling Stones song "
I'm Free" in the chorus. To coincide with the release of the single, the artist also teased a 2017
Norwegian party cruise. There is a campaign that launched in January 2016 in support of the cruise that is expected to last until later in the year. That same month, Pitbull recorded a song for the movie
Ride Along 2 titled "I'm 'Bout That". The song is unavailable on music platforms for unknown reasons. On February 14, 2017, Pitbull announced that
Climate Change would be released on March 17, with pre-orders starting on February 17. Pitbull collaborated with American girl group
Fifth Harmony on "
Por Favor" (released October 27, 2017) before announcing his 5th compilation album, titled
Pitbull Greatest Hits. The thirteen track album features eleven of Pitbull's most successful leading artist songs, accompanied by "Jungle (with Stereotypes featuring
Abraham Mateo and
E-40)" and "Locas (featuring
Lil Jon)", two brand new Pitbull songs. The deluxe edition of the album released exclusively in Japan featured a 14th track, "Celebrate". The compilation album was released worldwide on December 1, 2017. Pitbull released his first full-length soundtrack album for the film
Gotti alongside Jorge Gómez on June 16, 2018. Pitbull is featured on two tracks on the album, "So Sorry" and "Amore" (featuring
Leona Lewis).
2019–2020: YouTube history and Libertad 548 Pitbull collaborated with Indian singer-songwriter
Guru Randhawa on the song "
Slowly Slowly", released by
T-Series on April 19, 2019. The song's music video received 38 million views on
YouTube within 24 hours, becoming one of the world's all-time most-viewed music videos in 24 hours. Pitbull's eleventh studio album,
Libertad 548, was released on September 27, 2019. The album included the Spanish hit single "
No Lo Trates" featuring Daddy Yankee and Natti Natasha, which is RIAA Latin certified 6× Platinum (360,000+ sales). The album's second single "3 to Tango" went viral for
John Travolta's surprise guest appearance in the song's official music video. The album's third single "Me Quedaré Contigo" was premiered at the 2019
Latin American Music Awards, and peaked at #1 on the
Latin Airplay and
Latin Rhythm Airplay Billboard charts in the United States. The album's first promotional single, "Winning" featuring Yomil y El Dany, is a part of the
Boost Mobile "Dale Más" advertising campaign. The album's fourth single "
Get Ready" featuring
Blake Shelton, which was premiered live by Pitbull at the
Super Bowl LIV Tailgate Tropicale pre-game show, was later added to the "Dale Más" advertising campaign for a series of pre-game
Super Bowl commercials for Super Bowl LIV, and a remixed version of the single serves as the official theme song for the
2020 NASCAR Cup Series. The album's second promotional single, "Cinco de Mayo" with
Lil Jon featuring Chesca, was released on May 5, 2020. The promotional single was performed live at the
Premio Lo Nuestro 2020. The performance gained over 2 million views on YouTube as of July 2020. The album's fifth single, "Mueve La Cintura" featuring
Tito El Bambino and
Guru Randhawa, was released on June 8, 2020. An accompanying music video, which was filmed in 2019 and directed by David Rousseau, was also premiered on that same date. On July 17, 2020, the remix of "Mala", the original of which is found on
Libertad 548, was released as a single. The song, titled "Mala (Remix)", features
Becky G and additional guest vocals from
De La Ghetto. In 2020, amid the
COVID-19 pandemic,
LiveXLive launched a partnership with Pitbull, which would grant the platform exclusive rights to concerts, behind-the-scenes, videos and more from Pitbull to be streamed to LiveXLive's premium subscribers. On August 14, 2020, Pitbull released a new single, titled "Te Quiero Baby (I Love You Baby)" with Latin pop singer Chesca and American singer
Frankie Valli. The single serves as a Latin interpolation of the original
Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons 1967 smash hit single "
Can't Take My Eyes Off You".
2021–present: Returning to touring and Trackhouse On June 22, 2021, Pitbull announced across all of his official social media platforms the I Feel Good Tour, named after his
single of the same name, and his first dedicated tour since 2017's
Enrique Iglesias and Pitbull Live! North American tour. The 32 city tour featured special guest
Iggy Azalea and began on August 20, 2021, in Clarkston, Michigan and spanned across the United States through October 13, 2021, in Tampa, Florida. On February 24, 2022, Pitbull performed with
IAMCHINO and DJ
Deorro on the live-debut of their late-2021 single, "
Discoteca", at the 2022
Premio Lo Nuestro awards. The song samples "
Around the World (La La La La La)" by Eurodance group
ATC. On April 11, 2022, Pitbull announced the Can't Stop Us Tour with Iggy Azalea and
Sean Paul. This marks the second consecutive year Pitbull has toured with Iggy Azalea. Pitbull and Sean Paul have previously collaborated on their hit song, "
Shake Señora", from Pitbull's sixth studio album,
Planet Pit (2011). The tour began on July 28, 2022, in Raleigh, North Carolina and concluded in Hollywood, Florida on October 19, 2022. On April 20, 2023, Pitbull performed a medley of his songs "Let's Take a Shot", "Me Pone Mal" and "Jumpin" with Vikina, Omar Courtz and
Lil Jon at the 2023
Latin American Music Awards. On October 6, 2023, Pitbull released his long-awaited twelfth studio album
Trackhouse, featuring guest appearances from
T-Pain, El Micha,
Lil Jon,
Elvis Crespo, Vikina, Omar Courtz,
Nile Rodgers,
Gipsy Kings and
Zac Brown. It entered number one on the U.S.
iTunes Latin Album Charts. On July 20, 2024, Pitbull performed at the half-time show of the
2024 WNBA All-Star Game. On November 14, he went on stage with
Jon Bon Jovi at the
25th Annual Latin Grammy Awards to perform "Now or Never", a remix of
Bon Jovi's 2000 hit single "
It's My Life". ==Product endorsements==