The cult of Mr Worldwide: How Pitbull started a global movement

The rapper’s loyal fans rock up to his shows wearing bald caps and aviators in his image. As Pitbull embarks on yet another sold out stadium tour, Lydia Spencer-Elliott investigates his mystifyingly enduring appeal. Imagine looking out at a crowd and seeing thousands of versions of yourself. That’s the reality for Pitbull, aka Mr Worldwide, aka Mr 305, aka (as in, actually born as) Armando Christian Pérez, who returns to the UK stage for the first time in almost a decade this week. Stroll past The O2 on Friday 21 February and you’ll see a sea of female fans adorned in bald caps, tuxedos and aviators, such is the influence of Pérez’s signature garb. “Without you there is no Pitbull,” he told his followers after they sold out the 20,000 person capacity stadium in minutes. That holds up, kind of; without his fans, there’d certainly be fewer Pitbulls, at least.

Known for his galvanising catchphrase “dale!” (loosely translated to “let’s go!”) and hits including “Timber”, featuring Kesha, “Give Me Everything”, featuring Ne-Yo, “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)” and “Don’t Stop the Party”, the 44-year-old Cuban American rapper has sold over 25 million studio albums and over 100 million singles worldwide. He’s had No 1 hits in more than 15 countries, has surpassed 14 billion YouTube views, and has 11 million adoring fans on Instagram. In a career spanning over 20 years, Pérez’s global domination shows no signs of slowing down. When his Party After Dark tour hit 26 major cities across the US last year, there wasn’t a single night where someone didn’t show up dressed in the global superstar’s image.

When I ask 22-year-old Milli, who has long blonde hair extensions, fake eyelashes and lip filler, why she wants to dress up as a 44-year-old bald man, she says: “His look is so signature. You don’t even have to explain who you are. For Halloween, lots of girls – myself included – we dress up but still want to look quite fit. This concert, you won’t have a care in the world. You just want to have a great time with your mates.”.

Pitbull grew up in Miami, dubbing himself Mr 305 in reference to the Florida city’s area code. He learnt English from watching Sesame Street and spent his teen years listening to old-school hip-hop by Public Enemy, Slick Rick, Eric B & Rakim and NWA before graduating to Nas and Jay Z. In 2001, he landed his first record deal and featured on fellow Miami boy Uncle Luke’s album Somethin Nasty, as well as Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz’ album Kings of Crunk a year later.

Collaboration with other artists has always been the lifeblood of Pitbull’s success. Mr 305’s 2013 hit “Timber” with Kesha remains the rapper’s most popular single on Spotify, with 1.7 billion streams. His first UK No 1 single came in April 2011 through an appearance on J.Lo’s party-starter “On the Floor”. And his second chart-topper came just one month later with his club anthem “Give Me Everything”, featuring Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer, from his star-studded sixth album, Planet Pit.

Jessica, a 31-year-old Jessica from Glasgow, first got into Pitbull on her girls’ holiday to the Greek party destination of Malia in 2011. “‘Give Me Everything’ was the song of the summer,” she remembers. “Pitbull was on [the speakers] everywhere.” Cut to 2025 and Jessica, who works in a hospital as a radiographer by day, is heading to The O2 in a bald cap and tuxedo alongside the same friends she partied with in Greece 14 years ago.

“If you want to feel good about yourself, want to party and just want to have a good time, put Pitbull on and he’ll make you feel like that right away,” she says of Mr Worldwide’s mystifyingly enduring appeal. “Working in a hospital, I have good days and bad days. Sometimes, when I’m stressed, I put a wee bit of Pitbull on in the car and it’s like ‘Right, OK. Tomorrow’s another day. You’ll be fine.’”.

TikTok has adopted Pitbull as something of a modern philosopher in recent times. Despite having an air of Mr Motivator about them, his 2014 “Time of Our Lives” lyrics: “This for everybody going through tough times / Believe me, been there, done that / But every day above ground is a great day, remember that,” have become a mantra for modern women battling every inconvenience of life – from acne to bad dates. “You can’t be sad when you’re listening to Pitbull… that’s just a fact,” says 29-year-old Esther from London, who started listening to Mr Worldwide during her year abroad in Sweden in 2017 and paid £100 for a standing ticket at The O2 this Friday. She credits the rapper’s “9 to 5” remix “Powerful Women”, which he released with Dolly Parton in 2024, as pulling her out of her most “truly dreadful” days at work.