PITBULL

Pitbull

Armando Cristian Pérez (born January 15, 1981), better known by his stage name Pitbull, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor and record producer. His first recorded performance was from the Lil Jon album Kings of Crunk in 2002. In 2004, he released his debut album titled M.I.A.M.I. (short for Money Is A Major Issue) under TVT Records. Since then, he has released three other albums under the label: El Mariel in 2006, The Boatlift in 2007, and Planet Pit in 2011.

He released Rebelution in 2009, which included singles "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)" and "Krazy". The latter peaked at No. 30 on the Hot 100 and No. 11 on the Hot Rap Tracks charts while "I Know You Want Me" peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100 and peaked within the top ten spots of charts in the UK, Canada, Italy, and the Netherlands. The song reached No. 1 in France and the European Hot 100 on the week ending August 29, 2009 according to Billboard magazine. He later signed with Polo Grounds Music through Sony Music and created his own label Mr. 305 Inc. Another single from Rebelution was "Hotel Room Service", which peaked at No. 8 on the Hot 100. Rebelution went on to sell over 7.5 million worldwide digital singles and albums combined.

Pérez is also the host of his own Spanish-language program on the cable channel Mun2 titled La Esquina (Spanish for The Corner).

In 2005 Pérez and rapper Sean 'Diddy' Combs co-founded Bad Boy Latino, a subsidiary of Combs' Bad Boy Records label. It primarily focuses on Latin hip hop, Latin soul, Latin pop and other Tropical music, and has offices in New York and Miami, Florida. Along with co-founding it, Pérez currently heads the A&R division of the label.

Pérez has become a product endorser, representing alongside Drake, Rihanna, and Trey Songz the “So Kodak” campaign for the Kodak brand and embarking on a partnership with the soft drink giant Dr Pepper as part of the campaign “Vida 23” for which he recorded the song specifically featured on his album Armando. Pitbull also announced he has become the spokesperson for Voli Vodka, in which he holds a majority equity stake, and has also purchased an equity stake in Miami Subs Pizza and Grill.

Birth name: Armando Cristian Pérez

Born: January 15, 1981. Miami, Florida, United States

Origin: Hialeah, Florida, USA

Genres: Hip Hop, House, Electronic Dance, Eurodance, Latin Rap, Pop

Occupations: Rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer, television presenter, actor

Years active: 2001–present

Labels: Mr. 305 Inc., RCA, Bad Boy Latino, Polo Grounds, TVT

Associated acts: Afrojack, Akon, Lil Jon, Nayer,Jennifer Lopez, Enrique Iglesias, Marc Anthony, Shakira, Chris Brown, Usher, Sean Combs, Gabry Ponte, Christina Aguilera, Havana Brown, T-Pain, DJ Khaled, Ne-Yo, Sagia Castañeda

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T-PAIN

T-Pain

Faheem Rasheed Najm (born September 30, 1985), who goes by his stage name T-Pain, is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, and actor. His debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, was released in 2005. In 2007, T-Pain released his second studio album Epiphany, which reached number one on the Billboard 200. His third studio album, Thr33 Ringz, was released in 2008. T-Pain has earned two Grammy Awards alongside artists Kanye West and Jamie Foxx.

T-Pain is the founder of the record label Nappy Boy Entertainment, established in 2005. Throughout his career as a singer, T-Pain has extensively used the Auto-Tune pitch correction effect.

Birth name: Faheem Rasheed Najm

Also known as: Nappy Boy, Teddy Pain

Born: September 30, 1985. Tallahassee, Florida, United States

Genres: Hip hop, R&B

Occupations: Singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, actor

Instruments: Vocals, keyboard, auto-tune

Years active: 2004–present

Labels: Jive (2003-2011), Nappy Boy (CEO, 2005-present), Konvict (2003-present), RCA (2011-present)

Associated acts: Akon, Tay Dizm, DJ Khaled, Lil Wayne, Pitbull, Kanye West, Chris Brown, Young Cash, Travis McCoy, Rick Ross.

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FLO RIDA

Flo Rida

Tramar Lacel Dillard (born December 16, 1979), better known by his stage name Flo Rida, is an American rapper and singer-songwriter. He released his debut album, Mail on Sunday, in March 2008. His debut single "Low", featuring T-Pain, was a No. 1 hit for ten weeks in United States in early 2009. Two other singles resulted from Mail on Sunday: "Elevator" and "In the Ayer". In 2009, his second album R.O.O.T.S. was released; its most successful single "Right Round" was at the top of the Hot 100 for six weeks. Since then, he has released his third studio album titled Only One Flo (Part 1), and his fourth titled Wild Ones.

Birth name: Tramar Lacel Dillard

Born: December 16, 1979. Carol City, Florida, United States

Genres: Hip hop

Occupations: rapper, songwriter

Years active: 2006–present

Labels: Atlantic, Poe Boy, International Music Group, Strong Arm

Associated acts: T-Pain, Rick Ross, Akon, Brisco, Timbaland, David Guetta, Kesha, Sia, Taio Cruz 

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LOS CAMPESINOS!

Los Campesinos!

Los Campesinos! are a seven piece indie pop band from Cardiff, Wales, formed in early 2006 at Cardiff University. Although the band formed in Wales, none of its members are Welsh. They released their debut album, Hold on Now, Youngster..., in February 2008 and followed this up by releasing a record titled We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed, in October that year. Whilst many consider it to be an album due to its length, the band have always referred to it as a 'record' or EEP (extended EP) for contractual and artistic reasons. Their second official album, entitled Romance Is Boring, was released on 1 February 2010. Their fourth full-length release, Hello Sadness, was released on 14 November 2011. The band toured the US and UK extensively throughout 2012.

Origin: Cardiff, Wales

Genres: Indie pop, indie rock, noise pop, twee pop

Years active: 2006–present

Labels: Wichita, Arts & Crafts

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NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert: Los Campesinos!

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MOUNT SIMS

Mount Sims

Mount Sims (also Mt. Sims) is the stage name of Matthew Sims, a Berlin-based American DJ, performance artist, producer and musician. Starting Mount Sims as a purely electronic music act, later releases have also shown influences from post punk, new wave and darkwave. Sims is almost exclusively responsible for every aspect of his music, providing vocals, instrumentation and production. The first act was supported by two dancers, whilst the last incarnation under the altered spelling Mt. Sims was a three piece band which includes Rand Twigg on bass and Andre Lange on drums.

His first album, "Ultra Sex" (2002 / International DeeJay Gigolo Records (Europe) and Emperor Norton Records (USA)) was released to good reviews. It was influenced by German and British New Wave bands, funk and electronica. It was a concept album that focused on the themes of technology and sexuality. The album contains the tracks "How We Do" and "Rational Behaviour."

Mount Sims' second album "Wild Light" (2005 / International Deejay Gigolo) is a much darker album than the previous release. Its themes are death and information. Major musical influences are darkwave and post punk. David J. Bauhaus played bass on some of Wild Light's songs. Roger Manning Jr.'s (Beck) was responsible for some of the synth production. It contains the songs "No Yellow lines", "Lights on", and "Restless", a single featured in Amped 3.

Mount Sims is responsible for Madonna's remixes of her song "Nobody Knows Me", from her 2003 album American Life. In which he was noted to time compress a speech by Charles Manson in order to construct different electronic drums which he then placed in the remix.

Mt. Sims's third album "Happily Ever After" (2008/ Hungry Eye Records) continues on the influences of the previous release with its themes focusing on: obsession, isolation, horror and madness. It was produced by Thomas Stern of Crime & the City Solution, and features guest appearances by Jessie Evans (formerly of Subtonix, Autonervous and The Vanishing), Toby Dammit (Swans, The Residents and Iggy Pop) and Bryan Black (Motor). The album artwork was created by Peter Wu with layout by Dez of Crossover.

In 2008, he joined the band The Silures, which was founded by Vitalic and Linda Lamb in 2002. In 2009 he quit this group.

In 2010, he collaborated with The Knife and Planningtorock on the electronic opera Tomorrow, In a Year. It is based on Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species and was released as a studio album. It was also in 2010 that the last and final recording of Mount Sims/ Mt. Sims was done in collaboration with warp records artist Leila for her album U&I, of which he contributed his voice to her electronic compositions. There is no information as to whether Matthew Sims will continue to release music but it is for certain that Mount Sims/ Mt.Sims is no longer.

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