Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
The thing with me and endorsements is it's harder for me to get endorsements because of the simple fact that I want in.
I don't wanna make hood music, I don't wanna make street music, I want to make world music, global music, international music.
It's all about music, because music is basically what's... been my avenue out of maybe being involved in things I shouldn't be.
Now, with the Internet, you're either five years ahead or you're five years behind, and the music game is catchin' up right now.
The people in Cuba, they know what I stand for, and there's a lot of people in Cuba that stand for the same. But they can't say it.
I feel like I've been fighting in music and creating new ways and new opportunities to make things work even when people thought it wouldn't.
Now look at the crowd. We’ve got everybody here tonight: Black, white, Asian, Latinos—and guess what? President Obama says we can all stay! God Bless America!
One night I'll be in Los Angeles and it'll be a Latin crowd, and then another night I'll go to Fresno and it'll be an all-black crowd. To me, that's the beauty of the music.
I won't perform in Cuba until there's no more Castro and there's a free Cuba. To me, Cuba's the biggest prison in the world, and I would be very hypocritical were I to perform there.
I don't agree when the USA, that lives by a constitution, says, OK, just because you look this way, we're going to ask you for your documentation, or you gotta go back to your country.
My motivational music is any music that helps me escape. There are certain records that take you to euphoria, when you're partying and havin' a good time, dancin' with a couple people.
It's the true meaning of music being a universal language, constantly fighting and going through different boundaries in order for new people to hear the music and be like, "Oh, sh*t! I mess with this Pitbull kid."
I already had three strikes against me. One, I have light skin. Two, I'm from Miami, which wasn't getting looked at at the time. Three, I'm Cuban. But now, I've made everything that stacked against me into a virtue.
If you look at Cuba what's the benefit in being in Cuba? Really? It's almost like being in prison. You can't think. You can't have your own opinions. You have no opportunity. You just gotta live life the way you were born into it.
I started doing shows in places that I couldn't pronounce, didn't know existed, and I've seen people that didn't speak English or Spanish rapping to every lyric and singing to every hook. I said, "This is the type of music that I want to do."
I grew up around salsa, merengue, bachata, bass music, freestyle, hip-hop, techno, house, rave. Miami is special for that. It's a city where you don't know if it's more a part of the US, or of the Caribbean, or of Latin America, or of Europe.
There's always something going on, and people need that 45-minute-to-an-hour-and-15-minute break, where they just escape and not worry about bills, health care and God knows what. That, to me, is when you're making great music: when people can just forget about what's going on.
With all the negativity going on in the world right now, people need an escape. When you give them a hit record or a great record, it allows them to escape for at least three to four minutes. They're not thinking bills or economy or immigration or war when you create that kind of ambiance.
I never worry 'cause people always try to categorize me. "Oh, that's reggaeton." "Oh, he's a Latin rapper." "Oh, he's crunk." "Oh, he's a Southern rapper," or, "He's a club rapper." As long as they're listening to the music and they're talkin' about it, one way or the other, that means I'm doing something right.
Humor is everything. Everything. Usually the negatives turned out to be the most positive for me. In the music industry, any other artist would have looked at the situation I was in and thought, "Oh man, this is not for me." I looked at it more like Darwin exploring the Galápagos Islands. You know - survival of the fittest.
Since I've been in this industry, it's been a constant fight; "Oh, he's white, he's Cuban." "He's tryin' to do hip-hop and he's too Spanish, he's too English."You fight all these stereotypes through all these boundaries, and you find a way to tap-dance through all these different genres and cultures through music - that's what Rebelution is.
You know, Steve Jobs came to the music industry and pitched them the idea and they kept shootin' him down and shootin' him down, and now he makes money off the whole music industry regardless. Which is a minor part of his empire, 'cause obviously it's gadgets that make him all of his money. But regardless, he has basically monopolized the music game.
My whole thing is I don't take from Castro being an intelligent man as long as he is doing the thing that needs to be done. But the thing is at the end of the day you're not bettering the island. You're only making it worse. So, for me it's just making sure that people have the right to speak their minds and have an opportunity in life to better their life.
I always wanna be able to fight, I always wanna be able to go left when they tell me to go right, not because I'm being hard-headed, it's just me taking a creative stance. I have no problem with constructive criticism, but, at the same time, I have a problem with doin' the same thing that everybody's doin'. And that's the way I've found a way to survive in the music game.
I think that the reason my records are able to live forever in the club is because I actually like to be in the club. I don't go to the club to do VIP or get bottles or nothin' - I go to the club, I enjoy the people, I see what the people are vibin' off, and I see what makes me go crazy in the club also, and that has a lot of influence on what I bring to the table when I'm thinking of making a big club record.
As far as my single selections, over the years it's been a very essential part of my survival tactic, but I have no problem being able to jump on records with whoever people think is the rawest rapper in the game or number one or King or whatever they wanna name themselves, to be honest with you. It doesn't affect me, 'cause that's what I come from; I'm comfortable in that zone. But I don't wanna make hood music, I don't wanna make street music, I want to make world music, global music, international music.
