The Cuban American rapper Pitbull clearly loves Los Angeles, but he's got a funny way of showing it. During his rapid-clip set at the Gibson Amphitheatre on Thursday, the second of a two-night stand, he lauded his Southland fans over and over again by telling them 'Thank you for being my No. 1 market in the U.S.A.'
This is surely true, but it's kind of like telling your girlfriend 'Baby, you are my No. 1 source of emotional stability and domestic chore-sharing.' It's business-like and unromantic, especially since the Miami-based artist born Armando Perez is rarely shy about putting the moves on, well, almost anything that moves.
But that's the new task facing Pitbull, 31, as he vaults into genuine pop stardom after a decade in the trenches of crunk, Latin American club scenes and salty rave beats. He is in the business of partying, and his Gibson set showed the interplay between his charisma, his deeper-than-expected investment in pan-Latin music, and the obligations of tending to his markets.
Though Pitbull will never be lauded in serious rap-nerd circles, he does one thing and does it well behind a mike: a wiseacre Spanglish patter that's adaptable to almost any sonic setting this side of James Taylor. In Lil Jon's stable, he did synth-stab crunk; on his mid-career political albums, he did 808-heavy Southern rap.
But perhaps no other MC has gone so whole-hog in with the dominant dance-rap sound. Thursday's 1 1/2-hour show rarely eased off the gas pedal of four-on-the-floor beats livened up with congas and flecks of reggaeton.
Cuts from his singles-packed latest album 'Planet Pit,' such as 'Pause' and 'Rain Over Me,' proved he's paying attention to the cutting edge of club-culture house beats. The persistence and open space of dance music leave plenty of room for Pit to do his breathy-cackling thing while plying his favorite move ' a little crotch-in-orbit dance that would be unnerving if Pit didn't so clearly mean well by it.
As one of the few rappers with a full touring live band, his sound is always thicker and more believable than his peers. The addition of Latin percussion and rhythms to rave music is a natural fit, and it gelled nicely on 'Bon, Bon' (a read of Yolanda Be Cool and DCUP's house hit 'We No Speak Americano') off his Spanish-only album 'Armando.' When Pit covered the Brazilian singer Michel Telo's pan-Latin smash 'Ai Se Eu Te Pego,' he drew a through-line between his own American pop success, his Latin-club roots and his cosmopolitan ambitions (its slower beat was also a nice palate cleanser from the relentless club thump).
The one place he struggled was in staging. Pit has upgraded to a slick light rig, and it ably evokes the strobe-lighted sensual onslaught of the best mega-raves. But by performing, he's asking you to pay attention to him, and all the LMFAO-worthy wiggle moves on the planet couldn't deter the sense that in addition to his band, Pit could use some live dancers. This is music meant for spilling premium vodka cocktails down some dude's unbuttoned-to-the-navel pinstriped shirt ' let's see it happen onstage.
But the guest arrivals of Enrique Iglesias and Jennifer Lopez (both in town for an upcoming Staples Center set) felt less like cameos than a coronation of Pitbull. For so long, Pit's been the third-verse workman on other pop hits. To have two of the biggest stars in contemporary Latin pop pay alms onstage proved their roles might be reversing. Pit's got his old markets nailed. Now it's time to open up some new ones.
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