When he calls himself “Mr. Worldwide,” Pitbull is not lying.
At the end of June, the hip hop star will be traveling halfway across the world for a performance at the Dubai World Trade Centre.
And this isn’t the first time he has made a foray to the Mideast: he’s also appeared at Yas Island’s Skybar in 2010 for the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix.
After the release of, the Cuban American rapper has three hits from his new mainstream album Planet Pit that are still standing strong on the Top 40 charts all across the globe. One of the hits, “Back In Time,” is featured in the new film Men in Black III.
The music mogul’s collaborations have also won over many fans. A sexy collaboration with Jennifer Lopez for the song “Dance Again” has earned J-Lo a spot on the Top 40 List and the Billboard 100 Chart. Then Pitbull added the R&B bad boy Chris Brown to his song “International Love,” which has been a smash hit on the radio since it was released.
All of the recent success seemed to show that the mainstream audience approved of the new pop version of Pitbull more than the gangster rapper that came into the music industry almost eight years ago. His “thuggish” tracks, including “305 Anthem” and “Defend Dade,” never earned the performer a trip overseas.
After exchanging the locally appealing tunes for a more worldwide and mainstream track list, Pitbull has reached true stardom at the age of 31. His new style has earned him more than ten nominations in the past year for various music awards, including the Teen Choice Awards’ Best Song of the Year and the People’s Choice Awards’ Best Collaboration. In 2011, Pitbull won the ALMA Awards’ title for Favorite Artist of the Year. In 2009, he was the Billboard Latin Music Awards’ Latin Digital Download Artist of the Year.