When was the last time you heard about a pit bull stopping a fight?
Cuban-American rapper Pitbull did just that at the Nokia Theater on Thursday. Near the end of his 30-song set, the Miami-born musician, whose real name is Armando Christian Pérez, spied two fans ready to rumble in the front row.
“Stop the music,” Pitbull barked. “Stop it.” Speaking in Spanish, the rapper chided the combatants not to make the same mistakes he made as a youth. When the fighters were eventually ejected from the theater by Pitbull’s personal security, he looked into the crowd, shrugged his shoulders and exclaimed, “The party must go on.”
Despite the minor fracas, Pitbull’s bilingual (Spanglish) concert was a peaceful, albeit frantic, gig. He heated the house with the baby-got-back anthem “Culo,” his crossover hit single “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)” and the frantic dance-rap of his best known tune, “Krazy.”
The crowd was heavily female and it cheered the loudest when Pitbull worked songs like “Jealouso,” “Blanco” and “Watagatapitusberry.” The latter, performed with guest Sensato, was incredibly propulsive rap ‘n’ roll, churning the crowd to dance as if it were Carnival in Rio.
Head shaved clean, in his black James Bond-cut tuxedo and fronting a five-piece band, the dapper rapper was himself in constant motion — not quite dancing, but doing smooth salsa slides across the stage that had built-in grace.
Obviously considered a sexy party boy by the ladies, Pitbull also has a serious side. Repeatedly, he spoke about the unfairness of Arizona’s recent immigration enforcement law, and a few weeks ago he canceled his tour stop in Phoenix in protest.
Unlike many one-dimensional, cartoonish, often crass rappers, Pitbull projected himself as a smart entertainer with the savvy to balance the party and the politics.