Pitbull

Much like his canine namesake, it’s not very safe to corner Cuban-American MC Pitbull. Since debuting in 2002 alongside Lil Jon and the Eastside Boyz’s Kings of Crunk album to last year’s star turn with Trick Daddy and Rick Ross on DJ Khaled’s ode to Miami Dade County, “Born N Raised,” Pitbull defies labels. As charismatic as any rapper in hip-hop, Pitbull effortlessly moves between crunk and gritty rap anthems, truly earning his nickname Mr. 305.

His new album, BOATLIFT, brings together Pit’s ever expansive world on one album; brimming with sexy Caribbean influences and sounds like Merengue, Bachata, and Afro-Cuban, yet still brooding and hard enough for the other side of Miami.

BOATLIFT is the best of Pitbull’s worlds, melding the sounds of his lyrically dexterous debut, M.I.A.M.I., with the mature sounds and world influences of the critically acclaimed, El MARIEL.

“The BOATLIFT means so much to me, it means bringing together two very different works or trying to, because every album is a new step.” Pitbull explains. “And with the BOATLIFT and being that my family was involved in the boatlift [from Cuba to Miami] and being that it’s sort of me taking everyone on my own ride, it’s my own Boatlift. I feel like everything has to do with a Boatlift, think about how everyone came to this country. There’s so many ways you can go spin and turn it. But bottom line, it’s just my way of taking you on a ride with me in my world and trying to make you understand it.”