Armando Christian Pérez , known professionally as Pitbull, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, businessman, and actor. He began his career in the early 2000s and recorded reggaeton, Latin hip hop, and crunk music under a multitude of labels. He signed with TVT Records to release his debut studio album, M.I.A.M.I. , which was executive produced by Lil Jon. It moderately entered the Billboard 200, along with his second and third albums, El Mariel and The Boatlift . His fourth album, Pitbull Starring in Rebelution was supported by the singles "I Know You Want Me " and "Hotel Room Service", both of which yielded his mainstream breakthrough and peaked at numbers two and eight on the US Billboard Hot 100, respectively.