Pitbull looks back on the stories behind some of his biggest hits, from “On the Floor” with Jennifer Lopez to “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)” and “Give Me Everything” to “Timber” and “I Like It.” He shares how collaborations with artists such as Ne-Yo, Kesha, Lil Jon and Enrique Iglesias came together, why artists should fight for their song-publishing percentages, and how music can cross genres and bring people together. Plus, Mr. Worldwide reflects on the teacher who believed in him, and the schools he’s helping build to create opportunities for the next generation.
Pitbull: I said, “This is gonna be one big mother f–king record.” That’s what I kept saying, “This a big mother f–king. Oh, this is gonna be a big motherf–king.”
Leila Cobo: Last time you were here 10 years ago, you know that? Today we’re gonna talk a lot about music.
Sounds good to me.
It was your first track that broke the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.
“I Know You Want Me” — very, very special record. But one, I wanna say thank you to Team Pitbull, and I got Robby Robb here, which is the person that sent me over the beat. It was, I believe, 75 Street Brazil was the name of the record. So he sends me over the beat. I’m driving around listening to the song, and I just listened to … I was on tour, and we were listening to Omega and El Cata. And then El Cata has a song, eh, I know you want me, you know I want ya. So he had that song, and I said, “OK, let me try it on,” and boom, I do it on there.
Now, Omega with the mambo and the whole nine is where we came up with little different things as far as how to get slick on the record. Here’s the most important part of this, especially for anybody here that’s trying to get in the music business: Make sure, numbers are numbers, you get me? Add, multiply, do add. I got that part. But when you’re talking percentages, that’s a different conversation. So make sure that you get your percentages on these records, ’cause that in turn is what’s gonna help you in the future. That’s gonna help your family. That’s called generational wealth. Triple G, generating to generate for generations.
El Cata, I, when I call him up, and I have a conversation with him, I say, “Cata, look, I’m going to give you a percentage of the song.” He says, “No, I don’t want that, bro. What I want is cash. Look, what I want is cash.” I say, “Look, I’m going to give you cash and I’m going to give you a percentage of the song.” He gets to Opa-locka and he’s telling me that I haven’t given him anything because this and that.
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