Pitbull

Singing in both English and Spanish, Pitbull’s musical fusion of reggaeton, rap, crunk, and hip-hop has garnered success both in the Latino and English-speaking communities. He is one of the most nominated artists at the Billboard Latino Music Awards. Pitbull has also experienced success in the film industry: The song “Blanco” is featured on the soundtrack of Fast & Furious and “Back in Time” appeared in Men in Black 3.

Growing up in Miami with his Cuban immigrant parents, Pitbull was frequently reminded of the privilege of living in America. His parents encouraged him to “take advantage” of this luxury and all the opportunities their new homeland brought. As a family that fought tooth-and-nail against Cuba’s Castro regime, they knew the weight of that privilege all too well.

Pitbull learned English by watching Sesame Street. His childhood was a tough one, with his father mostly absent from the family when he was young. His mother had to take on the role of both parents, though substance abuse and addiction made it difficult to maintain a functional household. As a result, Pitbull had to spend time in a foster home in Roswell, Georgia, and eventually fell into drug use and dealing himself. This resulted in him getting kicked out of the house.

Growing up, Perez had a love for both Miami bass music and hip-hop. He admired Latino artists Celia Cruz and Chirino as well as the rap of artists like Jay-Z and Snoop Dogg. Around him was a melting pot of cultures, each of which heavily influenced his musical tastes.

“I’ve grown up in good neighborhoods, bad neighborhoods, worse neighborhoods,” Perez said in 2019. “But growing up around so many cultures, it’s always allowed me to think out of the box and try new sounds and try new things. You learn something new from every culture, just like I learn something new from every record.”

While still in Miami, Perez was introduced to hip-hop artist Lil Jon. His first recorded debut was on Lil Jon and The East Side Boyz’s album Kings of Crunk released in 2002. Lil Jon and the Diaz Brothers jumpstarted Pitbull’s musical career by producing his first full-length album M.I.A.M.I. in 2004, which featured the single “Culo.”

A collaboration with the Ying Yang Twins on the single “Shake” propelled Pitbull to commercial success. The single jumped to No. 41 on the Hot 100. In 2005 Pitbull asserted a leadership role in the music industry by co-founding the label Bad Boy Latino with rapper P. Diddy.

Pitbull’s sophomore album El Mariel released in 2006 and was met with rave reviews. Popular singles like “Bojangles,” “Ay Chico (Lengua Afuera),” and “Fuego” pushed the album to No. 17 on the Billboard 200. Pitbull’s subsequent albums such as Boatlift in 2007 and Rebelution in 2008 released hits that dominated the Hot 100.

In 2011, Pitbull’s collaboration with Ne-Yo on the single “Give Me Everything” garnered a No. 1 spot on the charts. He struck gold again in 2013 with the lead single from his Meltdown EP, “Timber.” Famously featuring Kesha, it held the top spot on the charts for three solid weeks.

In 2014, Pitbull performed at the Fifa World Cup Opening Ceremony in Brazil and released the single “Wild Wild Love,” which rose to number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100. By that summer, he received his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, released a single called “Fireball” that featured John Ryan, and announced the release of his eighth studio album Globalization for November 21st.

When Globalization dropped, the single “Time of Our Lives” hit the Top 10. In April 2015, Pitbull dropped “Fun” featuring Chris Brown, which rocketed up to number 40. All the while it turned out he’d been working on a ninth studio album, Dale, which he teased in May on his Twitter. Little did he know that this album would win him the Grammy for Best Latin Rock, Urban, or Alternative Album.

On October 26, 2015, Pitbull dropped a single “Free.K” in anticipation of his tenth studio album, Climate Change. Singles sampled songs by Adina Howard and The Rolling Stones, and the album came out on March 17, 2017.

Collabs after this included tracks with Jorge Gómez, Guru Randhawa, Daddy Yankee, Natti Natasha, and others. His 11th studio album, Libertad 548, has been certified 6x Platinum by RIAA. During the COVID pandemic, Pitbull released the single “Te Quiero Baby” with Frankie Valli and Chesca. He returned to touring in 2021 for the first time since 2017. Beginning in August 2021 (and again in 2022), the tours included Iggy Azalea and Sean Paul.

Born in California in 1987, Kesha Rose Sebert was raised by a single mother who was a successful singer-songwriter in her own right but struggled financially, torn between the demands of her craft and the need to support her family. When the family moved to Nashville, a young Kesha’s out-there persona did not sit well with the conservative surroundings however she used the time productively to work on her music and built her craft.

When she was just 17 she was persuaded to drop out of school and return to California to pursue music by songwriter and producer ‘Dr Luke’ who subsequently signed Kesha to his label and publishing company. Slowly, with Dr Luke's tutorage, Kesha began to write songs for artists and feature as a backing singer but still had to waitress on the side in order to live.

Her first breakthrough came when she sang backing on Flo Rida’s massive hit ‘Right Round’ but, determined to make it on her own terms, she declined featuring in the video or taking any credit for the performance. The appearance did however act as a catalyst for her signing a deal with RCA and finally being able to put the finishing touches to an album that she had already been working on for 6 years.

That album became ‘Animal’ which hit the top of the Billboard charts when it was released in January 2010 birthing the massive single ‘Tik Tok’. Having worked hard to get to that point, Ke$ha wasn’t going to stop there and the success continued with the release of her second album ‘Warrior. To begin with the dollar sign in Ke$ha’s name was an ironic nod to being broke but now everyone knows that it spells success.

While the most commercially successful rappers in the U.S have also been pop stars since the late 80’s and early 90’s, it’s only relatively recently that the U.K has been producing home grown rappers of the same size and ubiquity. Sure, rappers could have hits, just look at So Solid Crew getting “21 Seconds” to number 1 in August 2001. However it wasn’t until Dizzee Rascal collaborated with Calvin Harris and gave the world “Dance Wiv Me” in 2008 that UK hip-hop got its first legitimate, arena playing sensation who could take anything into the top ten at least. So it went for a couple of years that Dizzee was the undisputed top dog of U.K Hip Hop, and then this guy showed up. And Dizzee suddenly had competition.

From a young age, Tinie Tempah was nothing if not driven and amazingly talented. The kind of artist that could do anything he wanted with his life and music’s gain is everything else’s loss. Conceiving his stage name at the age of 12 after seeing the music video for the aforementioned “21 Seconds”, he was writing, recording, producing and releasing his own mixtapes by 17. In 2005 he joined the label Aftershock Hooligans, where he cut his teeth writing, recording and performing on hundreds of different songs with various other members of the label. In the same year he was ready to step out on his own, “Chapter 1: Verse 22” was his debut mixtape and the following year he had an underground hit with his single “Tears”.

Inspired by the likes of Def Jam and Roc-A-Fella, he left Aftershock in 2007 and along with his manager and cousin Dumi Oburota, created his own label Disturbing London. The idea was that it would also sign and nurture young artists as well as put out Tinie’s own records, but it was 2009 when everything changed. A talent scout called Jade Richardson called Miles Leonard, the head of Parlophone Records, personally and implored him to check out Tinie’s set at that year’s Wireless Festival in Hyde Park. The reception that the young rapper got from just his live show and one independently released album that was already two years old was enough to knock them both for six, and by October Tinie had been signed.

It was February 2010 when Tinie became a star in his own right, with the deathless single “Pass Out” levelling the playing field of UK Hip-Hop and since then he’s been untouchable. Doing what so many British artists have failed to do and breaking America with his single “Written In The Stars”, selling out arena tours and doing so entirely on his own terms. He’s a truly modern pop star, making music that’s as accessible as it is edgy, with a hand in everything about his career, from his music to his videos to his album cover art. He’s something of a national treasure only two albums into his career, and the only way to go is up. Highly recommended.

Born (January 1971) and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Lil Jon started his music career by becoming a late night club DJ in his hometown. By 1997 he formed a group called Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz, with hypemen/ rappers Big Sam (born Sammie Norris) and Lil Bo (born Wendell Neal) and together they signed with local record company, Mirror Image Records. Their first album, “Get Crunk, Who U Wit: Da Album” was released the same year, with two singles reaching within the top 100 of the Billboard Hot R&B/ Hip Hop songs chart. They released their second album “We Still Crunk” in 2000 independently under his own label, BME Records.

While still with The East Side Boyz, Lil Jon worked as a producer, producing hits like Ying Yang Twins’ “Salt Shaker,” Usher’s “Yeah” and E-40’s “Tell Me When To Go.” Between 2001 and 2004 The East Side Boyz released three more albums, “Put Yo Hood Up,” “Kings of Crunk,” and “Crunk Juice.” In 2010 Lil Jon released a rock music album, “Crunk Rock” that featured artists like Waka Flock Flame, R. Kelly, Soulja Boy, LMFAO and many others. He also took part on a reality television show, “The Apprentice” and partnered with Zumba Fitness to create a club workout series.

Lil Jon’s most recent music collaboration with DJ Snake, “Turn Down For What” in 2014 has gone three times platinum since it’s release in February.