backronym
A backronym is an acronym formed from an already existing word by expanding its letters into the words of a phrase. Backronyms may be invented with either serious or humorous intent, or they may be a type of false etymology or folk etymology. The ...
of ''Money Is a Major Issue'') is the debut studio album by
Cuban-American
Cuban Americans ( es, cubanoestadounidenses or ''cubanoamericanos'') are Americans who trace their cultural heritage to Cuba regardless of phenotype or ethnic origin. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of Cuban descent or ...
rapper
Pitbull
Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. The term was f ...
. It was released on August 24, 2004 via
TVT Records
TVT Records (Tee-Vee Tunes) was an American record label founded by Steve Gottlieb. Over the course of its 24-year history, the label released 25 Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platinum releases. Its roster included Nine Inch Nails, Ja Rule, Lil Jon, ...
. The production on the album was primarily handled by
Lil Jon
Jonathan H. Smith (born January 17, 1971) better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American rapper, producer and former frontman of the rap group Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz. He was instrumental in the emergence of the hip hop subgenre cr ...
,
Jim Jonsin
James Gregory Scheffer (born June 8, 1970), professionally known as Jim Jonsin, is an American record producer, songwriter, businessman and DJ from South Florida. Jonsin has collaborated with numerous artists, including Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, ...
, Diaz Brothers and
DJ Khaled
Khaled Mohammed Khaled (born November 26, 1975), known professionally as DJ Khaled, is an American DJ, record executive, record producer and rapper.
Khaled first gained recognition as a radio host in the 1990s on the radio station 99 Jamz, a ...
. The album also features
guest appearance
In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other ...
Lil Scrappy
Darryl Raynard Richardson III (born January 19, 1984), better known by his stage name Lil Scrappy, is an American rapper.
Richardson was discovered by producer and performer Lil Jon while performing at a bar in Atlanta. Along with labelmates T ...
and
Trick Daddy
Maurice Samuel Young (born September 27, 1974), better known by his stage name Trick Daddy, is an American rapper from Miami's Liberty City.
Early life
Trick Daddy was born on September 27, 1974, at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida. ...
Back Up
In information technology, a backup, or data backup is a copy of computer data taken and stored elsewhere so that it may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. The verb form, referring to the process of doing so, is " back up", ...
Dammit Man
"Dammit Man" is a song by American rapper Pitbull featuring Piccalo. It was released on August 3, 2004 as a single from Pitbull's debut album ''M.I.A.M.I.''.The song was produced by Jim Jonsin. It peaked at number 19 on the US Bubbling Under Hot 1 ...
". The album received generally mixed reviews from
music critics
Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...
and a moderate commercial success. It debuted at number 14 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling 55,000 copies in its first week.
Production
The executive producer of ''M.I.A.M.I.'' is
Lil Jon
Jonathan H. Smith (born January 17, 1971) better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American rapper, producer and former frontman of the rap group Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz. He was instrumental in the emergence of the hip hop subgenre cr ...
, based out of
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
and known for producing
crunk
Crunk is a subgenre of hip hop music that emerged in the early 1990s and gained mainstream success during the mid 2000s. Crunk is often up-tempo and one of Southern hip hop's more dance and club oriented subgenres. An archetypal crunk track fre ...
''M.I.A.M.I.'' received critical praise, especially in Pitbull's hometown of Miami. For the '' Miami New Times'', Mosi Reeves especially praised Pitbull's performances in the second half of the album for "spitting thug raps and matching wits with Bun B from UGK, Trick Daddy, and Fat Joe." Evelyn McDonnell of ''
The Miami Herald
The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami.
Nationally, the album got good reviews from
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
and '' Stylus Magazine''. Alex Henderson of Allmusic rated the album three and a half stars out of five. While acknowledging that Pitbull "is hardly the first MC to rap about drugs and thug life or sex and women," Henderson praised "his willingness to combine Latin and Dirty South elements." For '' Stylus Magazine'', Erick Bieritz scored the album eight out of 10 points, describing it as "that odd record frontloaded with weak material and then packed with great songs on the B-side" with an "excellent taste in collaborators."
While praising "Culo" and "Hurry Up and Wait", Alex P. Kellogg offered a more critical review for ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'': "... hechosen topics (partying, not giving a damn, and, ooh, giving up a life of crime) do not exactly make for groundbreaking material. From his spitfire style to his hoarse catcalls, it's clear Pitbull is excited, but he's not always exciting." Jon Caramanica rated the album two stars out of five for ''
Blender
A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender container with a rotating me ...
'', calling the album outside of the Lil Jon-produced tracks "nimble but dull."
Nick Marino of ''
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...
'' graded the album with a D-minus, for continuing what he called "a long tradition of substituting sex drive for imagination" by rappers from Miami. Commenting about the Atlanta-based executive producer, Marino wrote: "Lil Jon...for all his crunk magic, can only help a guy so much."
Commercial performance
''M.I.A.M.I.'' debuted at number 14 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling 55,000 copies in its first week. The album also debuted at number one on the US
Top Independent Albums
The Independent Albums chart (previously titled Top Independent Albums) ranks the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays (EPs) in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by ''Billboard'' magaz ...
chart. Since its release the album has spent 40 weeks on the chart. On April 8, 2005, the album was certified
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...
by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of over 500,000 copies. As of November 2012, the album has sold 644,000 copies in the United States.
Track listing
Samples
The song "Culo" samples a Coolie Dance
riddim
Riddim is the Jamaican Patois pronunciation of the English word "rhythm". In the context of reggae and dancehall, it refers to the instrumental accompaniment to a song and is synonymous with the rhythm section. Jamaican music genres that use the ...