PITTBULL: SO WHIMSICAL

Armando Christian Pérez (born January 15, 1981), better known by his stage name Pitbull, is an American rapper. His first recorded performance was from the Lil Jon album Kings of Crunk in 2002, after which he released his debut album in 2004 titled M.I.A.M.I. (short for Money Is a Major Issue) under TVT Records. Since then, he has released two other albums under the label, El Mariel in 2006 and The Boatlift in 2007. He then released Rebelution in 2009, which included singles "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)" and "Krazy". The latter peaked at No.30 on the Hot 100 and No.11 on the Hot Rap Tracks charts while "I Know You Want Me" peaked at No.2 on the Hot 100 and peaked within the top ten spots of charts in the UK, Canada, Italy, and the Netherlands. The song reached No.1 in France and the European Hot 100 on the week ending August 29, 2009 according to Billboard magazine. He later signed with Polo Grounds Music through Sony Music and created his own label Mr. 305 Inc. Other singles from Rebelution included "Blanco" featuring Pharrell Williams of The Neptunes and "Hotel Room Service", the latter of which peaked at No.8 on the Hot 100. Rebelution went on to sell over 7.5 million worldwide digital singles and albums combined. 

Pérez is also the host of his own Spanish-language program on the cable channel Mun2 titled La Esquina (Spanish for The Corner). In 2005 Pérez and rapper Sean 'Diddy' Combs co-founded Bad Boy Latino, a subsidiary of Combs' Bad Boy Records label. It primarily focuses on Latin Rap, Latin Soul and Tropical music, and has offices in Miami and New York. Along with co-founding it, Pérez currently heads the A&R division of the label.

Pérez has become a product endorser, representing alongside Drake, Rihanna, and Trey Songz the “So Kodak” campaign for the Kodak brand and embarking on a partnership with the soda giant Dr Pepper as part of the campaign “Vida 23” for which he recorded the song specifically for it that was also featured on his album

Pitbull was born to Cuban immigrant parents who made him recite the works of poet José Martí. He encountered problems early in his career as a rapper because he was blue-eyed and Cuban American. He was also influenced by the Miami bass genre of hip hop music and has cited Celia Cruz and Willy Chirino as sources of inspiration for his music. Perez's parents separated when he was young, and he was raised by his mother. He later spent time with a foster family in Roswell, Georgia. He began rapping in high school and was inspired by Nas, The Notorious B.I.G. and Big Pun.  At age 16, his mother kicked him out of their house after he became a drug dealer. He then graduated from Miami Coral Park High School and focused his career in rapping. After meeting Irv Gotti, Pitbull met Luther Campbell of 2 Live Crew, who encouraged him to rap battle on radio. He expressed interest in the West coast and East coast genres later in life.

Pitbull explained the reason behind choosing his stage name, saying about the dog "they 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." After meeting Lil Jon in Miami, Pitbull was featured on Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz' album Kings of Crunk in 2002. Pitbull's song "Oye" was featured on the soundtrack to the film 2 Fast 2 Furious the following year. In addition, Pitbull also released several mixtapes, composed of freestyles and remixes of popular rap music. Campbell featured Pitbull in his single "Lollipop"

Allison Stewart of The Washington Post and my buddy Rick Meza gave Planet Pit a favourable review writing, "His new disc, “Planet Pit,” dispenses with the idea that pop albums should consist of a few celebrity-packed singles topped off with filler. Every song here is a superstar/super-producer collaboration, every song a banger." and reffering to the album as "its own future Greatest Hits package." In his review for Us Magazine, Ian Drew gave the album three out of five stars and commented, "If you want a huge pop hit these days, get Pitbull to rap on it". He concluded, "So naturally, the Cuban MC, 30, calls in his own big A-list favors for his latest CD, comprised entirely of (what else?) pulsating club bangers." Robert Copsey of Digital Spy gave the album two out five stars, saying that "with another impressive rosta of guest vocalists and knob-twiddling boffsRick Meza of facebook says "Its So Whimsical"