Pitbull

Depending on your point of view, Armando Perez, who goes by Pitbull, is either a musical pioneer or simply a guy with impeccable timing. The son of Cuban immigrants, he grew up in Miami and eventually got involved in a scene where Latin grooves and dirty-South hip-hop mingle as naturally as elderly retirees on the city's beaches. Crunkmaster Lil Jon recognized Perez as the perfect person to pull these sonic strains together and signed on to produce "Culo," a single that arrived just as the reggaeton revolution was gathering steam. The cut helped boost M.I.A.M.I., Pitbull's 2004 debut for the TVT imprint, to gold status, thereby transforming Perez into something of a crossover star. Since then, the only Pitbull disc to hit stores was last year's Money Is Still a Major Issue, a collection of random tracks and collaborations. But he's set to release a new CD, El Mariel, in June, which helps explain why he's appearing at this one-off concert for Mega 95.7 alongside Domenic Marte, MC Magic and La Sinfonia. After all, timing is everything.