I’ve had the rare opportunity to watch unknowns develop and blossom into superstars many times in my music career. Among those is Mr. Worldwide himself, Pitbull, who we remember as a hungry young rapper out of Miami. Back then, the Cuban-American rapper originally known as Armando Cristian Pérez was ID’d as Mr. 305, having built up his fan base in that sunny beach environment.
We first realized that Pitbull’s international potential was huge when we were on vacation in the Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and heard his early dance floor smash “Culo” blasting at mega-volume from a convertible on the ocean front drive. Since then the hit tracks just keep coming with a Who’s Who of collaborators from Lil Jon and the Ying Yang Twins to J-Lo, T-Pain and most recently Shakira.
Top 10 Pitbull singles can be heard all over the world now and this fact was driven home most recently on a visit to Yankee Stadium during a group outing with 26 members of The Orchard crew for a game against The Angels. In the pre-game warm-up at one of the South Bronx’s local Dominican watering holes, a number of Pitbull tracks could be heard blasting out of the jukebox. I’ve visited this fine establishment several times in August (being a season ticket holder and all), and various tracks from Pitbull’s Original Hits have aired along side the more expected merengue and salsa classics. Armando has certainly made his presence felt from his recent visit to Kodiak, Alaska’s Walmart and concert for the locals to the environs of Noo Yawk’s Yankee Stadium!
On another note, here is some Raveonettes trivia for you:
We live in an uncertain world… The stock market goes up and down and no one seems to know where our economy is heading. It is very reassuring then to know The Raveonettes are one band you can certainly rely on to deliver their unique, personalized blend of 50s rock vocal stylings, surf guitar, post punk, droney noise rock and more year after year after year. As the Danish duo prepare to deliver their newest opus Observator on 9/11 and celebrate their 10th Anniversary by heading out to rock your world in cities across America, here’s a little known fact: Every single Raveonettes full album has debuted in the Billboard Top 200 or higher since Chain Gang of Love first hit #123 in 2003. You may be undecided on who to vote for in the upcoming Presidential election (or not), but clearly The Raveonettes have been pulling the popular vote for as long as they’ve been around!
