Pitbull - Rebelution Review

Posted by Michael James on 09.06.2009

Since he entered the game Pitbull has dominated dance floors. Rebelution is no different, as its already spawned two huge hits. But how does Pitbull hold up over a full album?

Some rappers are lyricists. To fully appreciate their music you have to listen close, listen hard. Their vocals are layered with similes and metaphors, vivid imagery and captivating stories. Think Scarface. Nas. Ghostface. Other rappers, well, aren’t. These rappers may make great records, but you don’t have to listen as closely. Their records are cool, but as background music. You can throw them on at the gym, or nod your head to them in the club. Think Flo Rida. Snoop. Jeezy. From the time Pitbull first burst onto the scene with 2004’s M.I.A.M.I. and its smash singles “Culo” and “Dammit Man,” it was pretty clear that he fit into this second category. He made party tracks, and he did them well. Now buoyed by the ubiquitous singles “Krazy” and “I Know You Want Me,” Pitbull is back with his fourth album, Rebelution.



1. Triumph (feat. Avery Storm)
2. Shut It Down (feat. Akon)
3. I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)
4. Girls
5. Full of Shit (feat. Nayer & Bass III Euro)
6. Dope Ball (Interlude)
7. Can’t Stop Me Now (feat. The New Royales)
8. Hotel Room Service
9. Juice Box
10. Call of the Wild
11. Krazy (feat. Lil Jon)
12. Give Them What They Ask For
13. Across the World (feat. B.O.B.)
14. Daddy’s Little Girl (feat. Slim)

Like with his first three albums, Rebelution is aimed squarely at the clubs. The album gets off to a promising starts. The opener “Triumph (feat. Avery Storm),” produced by Swizz Beatz, is a triumphant and upbeat horn-based track which feels like an amped up version of Jay Z’s 2007 hit “Roc Boys.” Pitbull continues to build momentum with “Shut It Down (feat. Akon)”. My 411 compatriot Patrick Robinson recently wrote in one of his 37th Chamber columns about how Pitbull and other rappers have started to embrace European dance music. Patrick may not have heard “Shut It Down” before writing that column, but the track definitely proves his point: the beat and particularly Akon’s hook are compelling, but its straight vocal house music.

Unfortunately, Pitbull loses his way immediately after the third track, the smash hit “I Know You Want Me.” While the focus of Pitbull’s music has never been his lyrics, his vocals on many Rebelution tracks seem like little more than an afterthought and are buried under too much nonsense. “Girls,” immediately earned a spot on my shortlist for the worst song ever. The song essentially has no lyrics whatsoever, instead focusing on nonsense chants and the distorted repetition of the word “girls”. The song’s trite vocal sample, in which Pitbull asks “Girl, are you bi?” and Random Video Ho #1 replies “No, I’m tri- I’ll try anything,” gets more frustrating and annoying each time it is repeated.

“Can’t Stop Me Now (feat. The New Royales)” is not quite as bad, but it gets close. Clinton Sparks must have fallen asleep on his programmer, as too many elements are added to the beat, which ends up as an overcrowded mess, densely layered distorted rock guitars, drums and more chanting. Strangely, this seems to be a common theme for tracks featuring The New Royales—they appeared on the Slaughterhouse’s lead single, “The One,” which was similarly overcrowded and was the low point on an otherwise nearly flawless album.

That may be the last time Slaughterhouse and Pitbull will ever be mentioned in the same paragraph. In fact, Pitbull’s lyrics have regressed noticeably over his previous work. As recently as 2006, Pitbull laid compelling verses on posse cuts like “Born N Raised” and “Holla At Me Baby”. However, on Rebelution, he is often limited to spitting awkward lines like “Juice box wet, she keeps that juice box juicy” or “I’m the plumber tonight/let me check your pipes/oh, you’re the healthy type/Well, here goes some egg whites.” On his new single “Hotel Room Service,” which also gives us the “egg whites” gem, Pitbull does little more than quote other artist’s punch lines (“Hotel, motel, holiday inn”; “that sweet, that nasty, that gushy stuff”). Similarly, even Pitbull’s trademark ability to ride even the most frenetic track gets discredited as he falls behind the accelerating beat on “Full of Shit” and can’t seem to catch up.

From a production standpoint, the album actually has a cohesive sound thanks to executive producer Jim Jonsin (the man responsible for Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop”). Most of the tracks feature either house-influence synths or prominent horns layered over fast-paced percussion. On tracks like the driving “Call of Da Wild,” and the dance-heavy “Hotel Room Service”, Jonsin’s beats are the star of the show, with Pitbull essentially serving as a glorified hypeman on his own album.

After the disastrous middle of the album, Pitbull ends Rebelution with two strong tracks. Interestingly, they are the tracks which fall farthest from the dance floor. “Give Them What They Ask For” finds Pitbull calling out fake mcs over a laid-back beat (also courtesy of Jim Jonsin), built on finger snaps, organs and keyboards. On “Across the World,” Pitbull and a crooning B.O.B. marvel over the fact that a dope melody can travel the world and take them along for the ride. I couldn’t help but smile at how amazed Pitbull sounds that fans in Japan rap along to his Spanish lyrics—it’s nice to hear an M.C. who seems truly appreciative of his success.

Unfortunately, these moments of creativity and clarity are few and far between and are overwhelmed by boring lyrics and an overdone cacophony of bells and whistles.

If you’re like me, most of your music ends up in an endless .mp3 “shuffle.” In order to preserve your valuable disk space, here’s what’s Ipod-worthy from Rebelution: “Triumph”; “Shut It Down”; “You Know You Want Me”; “Call of The Wild”; “Give Them What They Ask For”; “Across the World”

The 411: Rebelution has some hot tracks, and I came away with a lot of respect for Jim Jonsin as a producer. I'm also interested to see how successfully house and dance elements will be incorporated into hip-hop. But as a Pitbull record, I was left cold. He is usually a pretty entertaining MC and earlier this year he killed the Felli Fel produced posse cut "Feel It". Unfortunately, Rebelution misses the mark.

Final Score:  4.0   [ Poor ]