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For boy bands, former Tiger Beat heartthrobs, and arena rockers, VH1’s Behind the Music is often a sad, hour-long reminder of what once was –groupies, money, three-day benders — and the grim reality of what has become — rehab, foreclosure, obesity.
Those episodes often linger in the background while you fold laundry, maybe nap. They’re considered filler, an unwanted look back at a musical time period you’d like to forget.
But every now and again, Behind the Music profiles someone hitting the peak of international superstardom, a local on the brink of becoming a pop legend. Such was the case last night when VH1 profiled Pitbull.
Despite his Mr. Worldwide moniker, to us, Pitbull is — and will always be — Mr. 305. It’s tough see him as an internationally recognized pop star, because we can’t shake the memory of his three-song set at Gusto’s Miami Lakes back in ’02 or ’03. But that was ten years ago.
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Over the course of a decade, Pitbull’s elevated himself to A-list status, collaborating with some of the biggest names in music and dropping massive hit after hit. However, the road was incredibly bumpy.
On his Behind the Music, Pit recounts his days rapping at Coral Park Senior High, landing a deal with Luke Records, and dealing blow to make ends meet.
Raised by a single mother, Pit says, “We were always looking for our promised land,” admitting, “a lot of bad shit happened” when he was pushing pot and coke.
But like the intro to his 2011 hit “Give Me Everything” says, Pitbull “took [his] life from negative to positive, and [he] just want y’all to know that.”
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