El Mariel

Here Pitbull straddles the line between the hardscrabble MC who came of age on the Miami streets and the global entertainment brand he'd later become. Named after a Cuban port where 125,000 refugees fled to America in 1990, El Mariel counts as a political statement for Pit. On the slow jam "Raindrops" and the '90s hip-hop of "Blood Is Thicker than Water," he denounces materialism and reflects on growing up poor; Pit even scolds Fidel Castro on "Come See Me." Elsewhere, he's all about getting the party started: "Fuego" shimmies around the familiar sample from Debbie Deb's "When I Hear Music," while "Hey You Girl" nicks The B-52's' "Rock Lobster."