FAMED RAPPER 'PITBULL' PLANS CONCERT FOR CUBA
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Cuba opened its first embassy in the U.S. in decades Monday, a sign that the rapprochement between the former Cold War foes is accelerating.
The next step could be Pitbull, South Florida’s most famous rapper, playing a show on the island that claims his familial heritage.
“I’m definitely going to go to Cuba when Cuba opens up,” he told Fusion’s Jorge Ramos. “Cuba right now is a hot spot, and everybody wants to sing there.”
The rapper, born Armando Christian Perez, predicted at least 3 million people would show up to a prospective show on the Malecón, the main boulevard on Havana’s waterfront.
Pitbull’s mother fled the country not long after Fidel Castro took power in 1959. In 2009, the rapper told CNN he would never play a show there as long as the Castros were in power.
That family, of course, continues to run the country. So would he wait until a new regime is in place?
“It’s bigger than the Castros,” he told Fusion. “It’s what’s great for the Cuban people, great for the rest of the world to enjoy what’s in our blood and why we are who we are.”
Meanwhile, Pitbull refused to endorse any 2016 presidential candidate—including fellow Miamians Marco Rubio or Jeb Bush.
Rubio is “more ‘305,’” he said, referring to the Miami-Dade County area code, mostly based on the fact that they grew up in the same neighborhood. But he said Jeb was “fun,” having at one point cracked a joke about a much less flattering dog-related name the rapper could have chosen.
In 2012, Pitbull appeared at a 2012 campaign rally for President Obama. But declined to endorse presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for 2016.
“I’m not a part of any party,” he said. “Republican, Democrat…whatever is better for the country. I vote by whatever I feel is better for the country.”
Ramos’s full interview with Pitbull airs Tuesday, July 21 at 10p ET on Fusion.
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