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Bilingual hip-hop rap artist Pitbull will be a featured panelist at the upcoming Billboard Latin conference Worlds Apart - East Meets West urban music panel on April 27th (2pm-3:30pm at the Intercontinental Hotel in Miami).

Pitbull will be joined by other heavy hitters, including Daddy Yankee, Ivy Queen, Akwid, and Yotuel of Orishas. The panelists will discuss how these two urban Latin manifestations (reggaeton and urban regional music) can find common ground and flourish.

After spending more than 31 weeks on Billboard's Top Independent Albums Chart, best-selling Cuban-American rapper Pitbull has now reached gold status for shipments of more than 500,000 copies of his debut album M.I.A.M.I.: Money Is A Major Issue in the United States. The feat gives Pitbull the biggest-selling bilingual hip-hop debut since Cypress Hill's 1991 self-titled debut, and puts him in the rare category of Latino rap artists who have achieved major success at English-language radio.

Pitbull is also currently the Artist of the Month on Yahoo. Musica en Espanol for the month of April - http://musica.yahoo.com With his first two singles Culo and Dammit Man having already landed heavy mainstream radio and MTV play, Pitbull is now promoting his third radio single and video, Toma, which features Lil Jon as guest vocalist. The collaboration marks a return to the airwaves for the pair, who scored big this past summer with the breakthrough hit Culo. The new single Toma was already prominently featured in a recent episode of the NBC show Las Vegas, and has been added to rotation on MTV, BET, Mun2, and LATV.

Pitbull has also been lined up as the spokesman for Reebok’s new 305 sneaker line, which will debut later this summer. The Miami-based rapper also continues to make noise on the charts with his collaboration with Daddy Yankee and Noreaga on the popular remix of Daddy Yankee’s hit Gasolina, which is also included on the limited edition version of the new Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz album Crunk Juice (which recently debuted at #3 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart).

In further collaboration news, Pitbull guests on acclaimed Cuban rappers Orishas new album El Kilo with the collaborative track Quien Te Dijo. Other recent Pitbull collaborations include performances on Baby Bash’s new album Trees and Adassa's album entitled "Kumasutra".

An avid basketball fan, Pitbull has also begun his new role as a columnist for the NBA’s new bilingual website - his next article will be a Pitbull-style season-in-review analysis of the Miami Heat. His previous NBA.com article about Latinos in the NBA can be viewed at http://www.nba.com/espanol/blog/pitbull_050309.html

Sharp and outspoken, Pitbull recently contributed an essay to the NY Post in which he condemned the iconization of Che Guevara. He has spoken on National Public Radio about Cuban-American relations, and has been featured in The Source regarding his stance on Fidel Castro.

Unlike many other Latino rappers, Pitbull has managed to achieve success in the mainstream hip-hop world with bilingual lyrics and potent beats laced with reggaeton. He is equally comfortable sharing the stage at the VIBE Awards with Lil Jon as he is collaborating with Paulina Rubio in an attention-grabbing performance at the recent MTV Latin America Awards. Evidencing Pitbull’s growing acceptance among mainstream hip-hop fans, his clip for Culo was nominated last year for MTV's Best Booty Shakin Video of 2004. Pitbull also recently hosted MTV Jams recent 25 Greatest Southern Artists of All Time special, where he counted down the artists that put the South on the map.

Pitbull released his debut album M.I.A.M.I.: Money Is A Major Issue, on New York-based independent label TVT Records this past August. The album, which hit #14 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart, was produced by The Diaz Brothers and by super producer/artist Lil Jon. It features heavyweight guest hip-hop and rap artists such as Lil Jon, Trick Daddy, Fat Joe, and others. The 24 year-old Cuban-American rapper’s infectious sound combines hip-hop, crunk, reggae, reggeton, and dancehall, with English and Spanish lyrics. In what seems like a short while, Pitbull has quickly become one of the most buzz worthy hip-hop acts in the country and an MTV favorite.

Pitbull can also be found playing himself in the upcoming videogame Scarface, featuring Tony Montana.