b. Armando Christian Pérez, 14 January 1981, Miami, Florida, USA. Of Cuban parentage, Latino rapper Pérez grew up in Miami, Florida where he embraced hip-hop as a means of escape from the drugs and violence that haunted his childhood home. Adopting the stage name Pitbull he made his first recordings on a series of locally released mixtapes, in the process cultivating a mean reputation on Miami’s underground scene. He recorded with Miami legend Luther Campbell in the late 90s, appearing alongside Lil’ Zane on the rapper’s southern hit single ‘Lollipop’. Pitbull’s big breakthrough came about when he began working with ‘crunk’ producer Lil Jon, affiliating himself with one of the most popular rap genres to emerge in the early years of the new millennium. The rapper appeared on Lil Jon And The East Side Boyz’s bestselling 2002 release Kings Of Crunk, and the following year contributed ‘Oye’ to the soundtrack of 2 Fast 2 Furious. He then signed a recording contract with TVT Records and in 2004 released his mainstream debut, M.I.A.M.I. (Money Is A Major Issue). The Lil Jon-produced single ‘Culo’ was a US Top 20 hit during the summer.
