For some people their bark is bigger than their bite but that is not the case for Pitbull.  He’s had his teeth sank deep into hip-hop’s mainstream ever since his 2004 debut, M.I.A.M.I. and he shows no signs of releasing his grip anytime soon.  Pitbull has primarily been known for getting the club songs and categorized as crunk and reggaeton.

But as Sixshot found out, now that Pitbull is a free agent he’s ready to do things his way and on his terms without being boxed in or censored.  Read on to discover his plans for the next phase of his career, as well as his thoughts on everything from why TVT Records really went down to the story behind his father’s early absence from his life.
 
Sixshot.com:  You’re no longer with TVT Records which was at one point the top indie label on the scene.  Where did they go wrong?

Pitbull:  Uhm, I think the whole staff of TVT was a great staff—promotion and marketing.  I think that the president of the company, Steve Gottlieb, was too egotistical.  It had to be his way or no way.  The problem was that you’d have artists such as myself, Lil' Jon, and Ying Yang Twins running around and doing records with big artists, and Steve had problems with so many other labels that they wouldn’t clear the artist for us.

It came to the point where we were almost blackballed.  It’s not that people didn’t want to work with us.  It was like, “Damn we want Lil' Jon on this record and we want Pit on this record but we got to deal with Steve.”  So I think that’s where he went wrong.  Instead of creating alliances throughout the industry he created enemies.

Sixhsot.com:  So currently you’re a free agent? 

Pitbull:  Basically, I'm a free agent right now.  I just have a single deal The Orchard for "Krazy.”  I already put that out and met my obligations.  I'm in the midst of dealing with labels and I’m in negotiations to figure out where I'm gonna go and what I'm gonna do.

Sixshot.com:  In this shaky record industry climate what’s the most important thing you look for now in a deal?

Pitbull:  The most important thing for me is ownership because I come from an independent state of mind.  During the whole bankruptcy of TVT I was on the radio, video channels, and on tour.  So that’s something I learned from when I was over at Luke Records and everything I learned from him.  Now my most important thing would be ownership and to be able to own masters or at least a percentage of my masters.  That way you are almost in full control of your destiny. 

I'm still scared of major labels and they are very numerical; everything is by numbers.  If they don’t meet a certain quota by this time then they do minimum on a project.  Everything is about who is hot at the time.  There’s not that dedication that the music industry used to have.  I think that’s how they made these mega stars and superstars like they did in the past.  It’s like if you put in the numbers then great they’ll put the people behind you.  If not they say f*** you.  So I like the independent state of mind.

Sixshot.com:  You’re working on a new album called Rebelution.  So what are you rebelling against and what’s the revolution?

Pitbull:  Music is being revolutionized since the records ain’t selling and it's more digital now.  The music industry has to catch up to technology because they didn’t want to meet it face-to-face when it first happened with Napster.  I'm part of it cause on the last album I sold 100,000 hard copies cause TVT was going bankrupt and they couldn't put the CD’s in the stores no more.  Digitally I sold 1.5 million so I feel like part of the new age in music.

As far as rebel it comes from always fighting in the music industry.  I fought since the minute I decided to become an artist in hip-hop.  I has several strikes against me.  I was white, blue eyes, Cuban, and from Miami when everybody was looking at Miami like a booty shaking city.  They looked at us like we couldn’t rap down here.  But I kept fighting and kept fighting.  People always try to categorize me as reggaeton, crunk, or this and that but I’m just music.  I think that 2-3 years from now is when people will really not only have to respect the movement, but kind of sit back and respect how I got to where I'm at.  I got here just by fighting. 

Sixshot.com:  There's a quote where you say some people think that you're too Latin for hip-hop or too hip-hop for the Latin world.  So do you feel like you're not fully accepted in either world?

Pitbull:  No, I think I’m fully accepted in every world.  The only reason I say that I’m not accepted in every world is cause during award time in the Spanish market they say I’m too English.  I feel that I crated my own lane and hip-hop is all about being distinctive and doing something that’s hard to forget.  The movement we’ve created is something different and I want to take full advantage of the music game.  This is the beginning for me.  With TVT I feel like I put out mixtapes but now is my chance to show the public how versatile and talented I truly am.

Sixshot.com:  Earlier this year there was a bottle throwing incident at a show. 

Pitbull:  I don’t know what happened exactly.  I don’t know if that was a bottle being thrown from a bar fight on that side or if it was purposely done.  I have no idea but I'm not gonna let no f****** idiot—thank God it hit my head and not my face.  I'm not gonna let no f****** idiot spoil the show for people that paid good money to come see me, and waited a long time to see me come back to San Antonio.  So I came back out bloody and all.  That shows what I've been raised around.  You got to keep fighting and that’s there in me.  I’m like f*** them!  It's gonna take a whole lot more than a bottle to knock me out.

Sixshot.com:  What do you mean by that shows what you’ve been raised around?  Did you grow up amidst violence?

Pitbull:  I been raised around so many different neighborhoods and so many different characters.  So I learned to watch those who are observant and analyze.  Those are the ones you got to watch out for.  The ones out there in the street acting a fool and think they bullies ain't the scariest ones.  So when I think of that and I watch what’s going on—guys jump on camera with guns and think that s*** is cool.  You’re breaking rules and disrespecting codes by doing s*** like that and you’re basically inviting trouble.  So when people in hip-hop get mixed up I thank God for the way that I've been raised.  The cats that have raised me out here taught me to have a level head.  They taught me not to floss and that’s what I mean by what I've been raised around.

Sixshot.com:  Speaking of your upbringing your dad wasn’t part of your whole life.  What’s the story behind his absence? 

Pitbull:  I mean growing up in the ‘80’s in Miami my father was a part of the things going on in the eighties.  He made a lot of money, did a lot of drugs, and lost a lot of money and didn’t know where to go in his life.  I guess with everything that went on with Cuba and him being traumatized from Cuba, and not having his parents—you know certain things happening to him in life he was still finding himself while he had kids.  I would see him every once in a while.  When I got older and we got a better relationship I loved him not only as a father but I loved him as a friend. 

Before he passed away I got to share certain things with him that I'm probably gonna take to the grave with me and speak to my kids about.  He got a chance to see his son take everything that I learned out the street and make it positive by putting it in this music, and using the same hustle.  To me music is the same hustle as whatever game you got going on in the streets except your product is your CD.  You’re the product going from city to city, state to state, worldwide.  So it was a blessing.  As far as him not being there for me my mother did the mother/father thing.  She made me more of a man than any man could have made me.

Sixshot.com:  What do you think of the recent changes in Cuba where they have been relaxing some of their minor bans and policies?  Do you see hope there with these changes?

Pitbull:  I hope that it opens up.  Those are just minor changes and more is needed.  They just got hammered by these hurricanes and no one could really help them cause they don’t want no help.  They are just very hard-headed—not as far as the people but as far as the dictatorship they have down there.  I truly feel that Castro is dead.  I feel like he’s been dead for 2 or 3 years now.  I think he handed off power to Raul.  Once that becomes public and it’s a 150% fact I think that’s when you will see change in Cuba or at least I'm hoping.

Sixshot.com:  Speaking of politics you’ve recently spoken out about Daddy Yankee's support of McCain. 

Pitbull:  That was bull****.  That was a publicity stunt gone wrong.  How can you sit there and make a debate about John McCain and Sarah Palin?  There’s no way shape or form for him to jump behind John McCain.  Whoever on your team told you to do this s*** really fucked you up right now.  Fat Joe called him out on it also.  I don't think he's a bad guy.  I just think it’s the wrong decision.  I don’t know how you can sit up there and talk about John McCain's immigration laws when you come from an island that’s U.S. territory.  [Laughs]

Sixshot.com:  You’re obviously not afraid to discuss politics and serious issues yet most people know you for party songs.  Does it bother you that your socially conscious side is overshadowed by your party club music?

Pitbull:  To be honest with you I’m giving the people what they want right now.  I always say you got to cater to an audience.  So right now I'm catering to them.  Also even with "Krazy," I’ll sneak in like [rapping] “Iraq no war/U.S. no Bush/no Cuba no Castro.”  I'll sneak in s*** and different things where it’s like I'm spoon feeding them.  I got to hid the meat or the lettuce up under the rice and s*** and they don’t see what they eating, but that’s exactly the way I do with music.  When I get the chance to really explode on them I got so much to say.  I been holding onto a lot cause I knew TVT wouldn’t be able to handle it and it’s gonna be interesting.

For more information please visit:
www.myspace.com/pitbull