Pitbull

Armando Christian Pérez (born January 15, 1981), known professionally as Pitbull, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. He began his career in the early 2000s as a reggaeton, Latin hip hop, and crunk performer, and signed with TVT Records to release his debut album, M.I.A.M.I. (2004). Executive produced by Lil Jon, the album moderately entered the Billboard 200 along with his second and third albums, El Mariel (2006) and The Boatlift (2007). His fourth album, Pitbull Starring in Rebelution (2009), yielded his mainstream breakthrough, spawning the singles "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)" and "Hotel Room Service"—which peaked at numbers two and eight on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, respectively. After rebranding himself as a pop artist, Pitbull's sixth and seventh albums, Planet Pit (2011) and Global Warming (2012) were both met with continued commercial success; the former spawned his first Billboard Hot 100-number one single "Give Me Everything" (featuring Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer), while the latter spawned the top ten hit "Feel This Moment" (featuring Christina Aguilera). His 2013 single, "Timber" (featuring Kesha), became his second song to peak the chart, and did so in 18 other countries. His 2014 single, "Time of Our Lives" (with Ne-Yo), peaked within the chart's top ten and led his eighth album, Globalization (2014). That same year, he performed the song "We Are One (Ole Ola)" (with Jennifer Lopez and Claudia Leitte), which served as the official theme of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Meanwhile, Pitbull made numerous guest appearances on a number of hit songs, including the Billboard Hot 100-top four singles "I Like It" by Enrique Iglesias, "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love" by Usher, and "On the Floor" by Jennifer Lopez. Pitbull's subsequent albums, Dale (2015) and Climate Change (2017), trailed commercially. His eleventh album and first independent release, Libertad 548 (2019) focused on Latin hip hop and was led by the singles "No Lo Trates" (with Daddy Yankee and Natti Natasha) and "Me Quedaré Contigo" (featuring Ne-Yo). His twelfth album, Trackhouse (2023), delved further into Latin influences. Pitbull has sold over 25 million studio albums and over 100 million singles worldwide. He has over 15 billion views on YouTube as of May 2020. He was ranked by Billboard as the 45th Top Artist of the 2010s and the 24th Top Latin Artist of the 2010s. Pitbull's other ventures include brand ambassadorship and for various entities, activism and philanthropy in Latino American communities, a radio station—Pitbull's Globalization—on Sirius XM Radio, and ownership of the Trackhouse Racing NASCAR team. As of May 2019, Pitbull has won 35 Billboard Latin Music Awards.