Pitbull celebrates a momentous career milestone today as his smash hit “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)” peaked on the Billboard Top 100 chart at #4 and on the Soundscan Single chart at #2. It is the only independently released single ranking in the top 10 on either of these charts.
Billboard’s Michael Menachem wrote in his review (4/4/09) of the infectious club anthem, “The clever meshing of reggaeton with Euro dance music signals what looks like a multiformat smash. At the core is an acoustic guitar and a sizzling rhythm, with hot horns in the form of a sample that just keeps on giving: Chicago's ‘Street Player,’ which appeared in the '90s techno hit ‘The Bomb’ by the Bucketheads.” Italy’s Nicola Fasano vs. Pat-Rich took the sample creating “75, Brazil Street” and then mashed it with Pitbull’s vocals, resulting in the song which sold over 128,000 units this week and 652,000 singles sold overall to date.
Check out the sultry video, which is now in rotation on MTV, MTV2, MTV Hits, MTV Jams and FUSE, as posted on Ultra Records Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/UltraRecords
Growing up with the works of Cuban poet Jose Marti, Pitbull—also known by his fans as Mr. 305--blends his early lyrical influences with a Miami bass sound. Able to harness the power of spoken word, Pitbull made his debut on the 2002 Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz album "King of Crunk," and hasn’t stopped since. After appearing on The Fast and the Furious soundtrack in 2004, he released his debut album "M.I.A.M.I. (Money Is a Major Issue)" featuring the hit single “Culo” featuring Lil Jon. Pitbull was soon unstoppable, dropping two more albums in two years: "El Mariel" in 2006 and "The Boatlift" in 2007. He has also collaborated with some of the biggest names in the game including Lil Jon, Wyclef Jean, Carlos Ponce, Rick Ross, Don Omar, Bun B, and Ying Yang Twins.
"Thieves Like Us deserve credit for making such a consistently exciting album that's arguably already a contender for electronic album of the year." BBC
