The Boatlift
| The Boatlift | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | November 27, 2007 | |||
| Recorded | 2006–2007 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 58:43 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer |
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| Pitbull chronology | ||||
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| Singles from The Boatlift | ||||
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The Boatlift is the third studio album by Cuban-American rapper Pitbull. It was released on November 27, 2007 through TVT and Poe Boy. The album features production by Lil Jon, Mr. Collipark, Nitti, Diaz Brothers and Sean "P. Diddy" Combs who served as executive producer with Pitbull. It also features guest appearances by Trick Daddy, Lil Jon, Twista, Jim Jones, Jason Derulo and Don Omar among others.
The Boatlift spawned four singles: "Go Girl", "The Anthem", "Secret Admirer", and "Sticky Icky". The album received generally positive reviews from music critics but received small commercial success despite critical acclaim. It debuted at number 50 on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 22,398 copies in its first week.[1]
Critical reception
[edit]| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 69/100[2] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
| DJBooth |  [4] |
| Okayplayer | [5] |
| RapReviews | 7.5/10[6] |
| Slant Magazine | [7] |
The Boatlift garnered a positive reception from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 69, based on five reviews.[2]
Patrick Taylor of RapReviews praised the album's versatile production for going beyond crunk music and showing depth in club anthems, concluding that "Pitbull continues to prove himself as an MC who is able to bridge Latin hip hop and Southern hip hop, creating a sound that should appeal to fans from both camps. He may not be the deepest lyricist on earth, and his attempts at bedroom music may fall flat, but he makes a mean soundtrack for a night out."[6] DJBooth's Nathan Slavik praised Pitbull for exploring vastly different genres to create party tracks with a worldview appeal and doing them with a talented cast of featured artists and producers, saying that "The Boatlift isn’t going to expand your intellectual or spiritual horizons, but it is without question a go-to album for all your booty-shakin needs."[4] Jose Davila of Vibe also praised the album's genre-hopping production mixing well with Pitbull's bilingual, charismatic flow, saying that it "solidifies Pitbull's position as one of the most diverse party MCs around. And little else."[8]
Wilson McBee of Slant Magazine said that, "For better or worse, the story of Boatlift concerns more the production and song structures than Pitbull’s own rapping. It’s clear he’d rather be a chorus-shouter than a verse-spitter, or at least he believes that will help him sell more records."[7] AllMusic's David Jeffries commended the production and lyrical hooks for being catchy but felt that it lacked a sense of personality and talent compared to El Mariel, saying to consider The Boatlift "a fun floor-filler, but just not up to Pitbull's usual standards."[3] A writer for Music for America felt that Pitbull was wasting his talent throughout the record rhyming typical club tracks and party jams and would like to see him collaborate with artists like Little Brother, 2Mex, Deep Thinkers and Roots Manuva.[9]
Commercial performance
[edit]The Boatlift debuted at number 50 on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 22,398 copies in its first week.[10] In its second week, the album dropped to number 134 on the chart, selling an additional 9,686 copies.[11] As of April 2009, the album has sold 131,000 copies in the United States.[12]
Track listing
[edit]| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "A Little Story (Intro)" | Armando C. Perez | 1:08 | |
| 2. | "Go Girl" (featuring Trina and Young Bo$$) |
| Soundz | 3:49 |
| 3. | "Dukey Love" (featuring Trick Daddy and Fabo) |
| Mr. Collipark | 3:45 |
| 4. | "I Don't See 'Em" (featuring Cubo & AIM) |
| Tru | 3:59 |
| 5. | "Midnight" (featuring Casely) |
| Vein | 3:32 |
| 6. | "Ying & the Yang" |
|
| 3:27 |
| 7. | "The Anthem" (featuring Lil Jon) |
|
| 4:05 |
| 8. | "The Truth (Interlude)" | A. C. Pérez | 0:54 | |
| 9. | "Candyman" (featuring Twista) |
|
| 3:11 |
| 10. | "Sticky Icky" (featuring Jim Jones) |
| Lil Jon | 3:42 |
| 11. | "My Life" (featuring Jason Derulo) |
|
| 3:44 |
| 12. | "Secret Admirer" (featuring Lloyd) |
| Play-N-Skillz | 3:18 |
| 13. | "Get Up / Levantate" |
| Play-N-Skillz | 3:17 |
| 14. | "Fuego (DJ Buddha Remix)" (featuring Don Omar) |
|
| 3:49 |
| 15. | "Stripper Pole (Remix)" (featuring Toby Love) |
| Eddie Perez | 3:56 |
| 16. | "Un Poquito" (featuring Yung Berg) |
|
| 3:42 |
| 17. | "Tell Me (Remix)" (featuring Frankie J & Ken-Y) |
| Lil Jon | 4:34 |
| 18. | "Mr. 305 (Outro)" | A. C. Pérez | 0:45 | |
| Total length: | 58:43 | |||
Sample credits
- "Go Girl" contains a sample of "Big Poppa" performed by The Notorious B.I.G., and "Party Like a Rockstar" performed by Trina.
- "The Anthem" contains a sample of "El Africano" performed by Wilfrido Vargas and "Calabria 2007"
- "Candyman" contains a sample of "Breathe In Breathe Out" performed by Kanye West featuring Ludacris performed by ENUR and Natasja.
- "Secret Admirer" contains a sample of "My Boo" performed by Ghost Town DJ's.
- "Fuego (DJ Buddha Remix)" – remix of "Fuego" from Pitbull's album El Mariel.
- "Stripper Pole (Remix)" – remix of the Toby Love song "Stripper Pole" performed with KP Da Moneymaker; original version appears on Toby Love's self-titled album.
- "Tell Me (Remix)" – remix of the Ken-Y song "Dime"; original version appears on the album Masterpiece.
Personnel
[edit]- Pitbull – lead vocals
- AIM – guest vocals (4)
- Kori Anders – assistant audio mixing (16)
- Keith Bizz – audio mixing (5)
- Leslie Brathwaite – audio mixing (16)
- Reather Bryant – percussion (14)
- Al Burna – recording engineer (1, 5, 8-9, 14, 17-18)
- Josh Butler – recording engineer (12)
- Casely – additional vocals (5)
- Albert Castillo – recording engineer, audio mixing (7)
- Juan "Juan Ya" Chavis – background vocals (15)
- Steven Cruz – guitar (15)
- Cubo – guest vocals, recording engineer (4)
- Ryan Deaunovich – bongos
- Juan "John Q." DeJesus – background vocals (15)
- Miguel DeJesus – background vocals (15)
- DJ Buddha – remixing (14)
- DJ Ideal – recording engineer (4)
- Fabo – additional vocals (3)
- Steve Fisher – recording engineer (12)
- Jonathan "JaShell" Gelabert – background vocals (15)
- Adam Gomez – bass guitar (15)
- Danny Guira – guiro
- Eddie Hernandez – assistant audio mixing (2, 12, 14)
- LaMarquis Jefferson – bass guitar (6)
- Harold Jones – percussion (14)
- Julissa – background vocals (15)
- Dawin Lapache – guitar, bass guitar (15)
- Ari Levine – recording engineer (16)
- Lil Jon – audio mixing (6)
- Craig Love – guitar (6)
- Toby Love – vocal arrangement, background vocals (15)
- Jose "Jumanji Guira" Martinez – guiro (15)
- Rafael Martinez – background vocals (15)
- Ping "A. Fuegoski" Montana – bongos (15)
- Detroit Nix – keyboards (6)
- Steve Obas – recording engineer (2)
- Rich DJ Riddler Pangilinan – audio production, producer (7)
- Eddie "Scarlito" Perez – piano, all keyboards, vocal arrangement, recording engineer, audio mixing (15)
- Raulito – bongos
- Leroy S. Romans – piano, all keyboards, background vocals (15)
- Adrian "Drop" Santalla – recording engineer (2, 11, 13)
- Young Rico Scott – percussion (14)
- Ray Seay – audio mixing (2–3, 6, 9–12, 14, 17)
- Stephen Siravo Jr. – assistant audio mixing (15)
- Justin Trawick – assistant audio mixing (16)
- Trina – additional vocals (2)
- Yaharia Vargas – background vocals (15)
- Andrea Venezuela – additional vocals (16)
- Mark Vinten – recording engineer (6, 10, 17)
Charts
[edit]| Chart (2007) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200[13] | 50 |
| US Independent Albums (Billboard)[14] | 7 |
| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[15] | 13 |
| US Top Rap Albums (Billboard)[16] | 2 |
References
[edit]- ^ "Pitbull Debuts At #50, Freeway Slips To #80, Jay-Z Holds Down Top 20". XXL. December 5, 2007. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
- ^ a b "Reviews for The Boatlift by Pitbull". Metacritic. Archived from the original on October 19, 2023. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
- ^ a b Jeffries, David. The Boatlift at AllMusic. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
- ^ a b Slavik, Nathan (November 27, 2007). "Pitbull - The Boatlift". DJBooth. Archived from the original on August 20, 2012. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
- ^ O'Neal, Eavvon (January 11, 2008). "Pitbull". Okayplayer. Archived from the original on February 25, 2009. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
- ^ a b Taylor, Patrick (November 20, 2007). "Feature for November 20, 2007 - Pitbull's "The Boatlift"". RapReviews. Archived from the original on April 22, 2023. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
- ^ a b McBee, Wilson (November 30, 2007). "Pitbull: The Boatlift". Slant Magazine. Archived from the original on October 26, 2023. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
- ^ Davila, Jose (February 2008). "Pitbull 'The Boatlift'". Vibe. 16 (2): 86. ISSN 1070-4701. Archived from the original on November 23, 2016. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
- ^ "The Run-Off Groove #182: Underabundance Of The Bon Dance". Music for America. December 4, 2007. Archived from the original on December 8, 2007. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
- ^ "Pitbull Debuts At #50, Freeway Slips To #80, Jay-Z Holds Down Top 20". XXL. December 5, 2007. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
- ^ "Hip Hop Album Sales: Week Ending 12/9/07". HipHopDX. Cheri Media Group. December 12, 2007. Retrieved December 13, 2007.
- ^ "Pitbull brings imprint to Polo/RCA". Billboard. 11 April 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
- ^ "BB200 - 2007-12-15". Billboard. Retrieved April 6, 2014.
- ^ "Indie Albums - 2007-12-15". Billboard. Retrieved April 6, 2014.
- ^ "TRBHH - 2007-12-15". Billboard. Retrieved April 6, 2014.
- ^ "TRA - 2007-12-15". Billboard. Retrieved April 6, 2014.
Bibliography
[edit]Baker, Geoff (2005), ""La Habana que no conoces": Cuban rap and the social construction of urban space", Ethnomusicology Forum, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 215–246.
"Pitbull: El Capitan", Giant Magazine, New York City, New York, 6 December 2007, retrieved 2008-02-06.
Kalikwest Publication Group (24 March 2005), "Pitbull On", MySpace Music, retrieved 2008-02-06.
"Who Is Pitbull: Biography", The Pitbull Official Site, 24 March 2005, retrieved 2008-02-06.
