Though he's recently had albums titled Global Warming, Globalization, and the upcoming Climate Change, lately Pitbull has not been the most political of rappers. His verses in "Timber" had nothing to do with deforestation, and "Give Me Everything" makes no mention of where he comes down on tax rates. But as one of the — if not the — most famous Cuban-American artists in the world, it is surprising that, as of presstime, Pitbull has made no mention of Fidel Castro's death. Not a tweet, not a Facebook post, not even a random "¡Dale!"
His silence is more surprising in that one of the rare times he dipped his toe in political matters was in dealing with Castro's oppression of the Cuban people. His second and third albums were titled El Mariel and Boatlift. Both records touched on growing up in an exile community, but they were mostly filled with party songs. In 2006, he hit us with "Ya Se Acabó." The Spanglish song was a hopeful celebration of Fidel transferring rule to his brother Raúl.
Pitbull has made no mention of Castro's death. Not a tweet, not even a random "¡Dale!"
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But now that El Comandante has officially left the world of the walking, it is surprising there has been no comment from the Miami-born-and-bred Pitbull. Though we expect a lot from our artists, they don't really owe us their opinions. The man who created the mold for politically minded musicians, Bob Dylan, has spent his later years being a sphinx. As a young folkie, Dylan wore his politics on his sleeve, but as an elder statesman, he has refused to explicitly endorse any candidate or stance, forcing fans to dig through his cryptic lyrics to see if he's a third-party kind of guy.
Pitbull has never been one for those kinds of subtleties. Like the reputation of the dog for which he is named, he is a kinetic ball of energy, taking the stage aggressively and without pretense. So one has to think that during Mr. 305's first hometown show (even if Hard Rock Live is officially in the 954 area code) after Castro's death, he would let out a rallying cry for all of his fans, especially those of his shared heritage, that now, once and for all, ya se acabó.
Pitbull. 8 p.m., Friday, December 9, at Hard Rock Live, 1 Seminole Way, Hollywood; seminolehardrockhollywood.com. 954-797-5531; Tickets cost $70 to $140 via ticketmaster.com.
