''The Boatlift'' is the third

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

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 November 27, 2007 through TVT,

Poe Boy Poe Boy Music Group (formerly Poe Boy Entertainment) is an American record label, founded in 1999 by Elric "E-Class" Prince, the label's founder and CEO. President of Poe Boy Music Group Elvin "Big Chuck" Prince, CEO of Hiram Music Group & CEO of ...

and

Bad Boy Latino Bad Boy Latino is a Latin hip hop record label founded in 2005 by recording artists P. Diddy and Pitbull.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 cru ...

Mr. Collipark Michael Antoine Crooms (born October 5, 1972), better known by his stage name Mr. Collipark (and also known as DJ Smurf), is an American hip hop producer and the president of his own Atlanta-based record label, Collipark Music, which was starte ...

, Nitti, Diaz Brothers and Sean "P. Diddy" Combs who served as executive producer with Pitbull. It also features

guest appearances 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 ...

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 (Miami), Liberty City. Early life Trick Daddy was born on September 27, 1974, at Jackson Memorial Hospita ...

, Lil Jon,

Twista Carl Terrell Mitchell (born November 27, 1973), better known by his stage name Twista (formerly Tung Twista), is an American rapper and record producer. He is best known for his chopper style of rapping and for once holding the title of fastes ...

Jim Jones James Warren Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) was an American preacher, political activist and mass murderer. He led the Peoples Temple, a new religious movement, between 1955 and 1978. In what he called "revolutionary suicide ...

Jason Derulo Jason Joel Desrouleaux (born September 21, 1989), known professionally as Jason Derulo (; formerly stylized as Derülo), is an American singer and songwriter.

and

Don Omar William Omar Landrón Rivera (born February 10, 1978), better known by his stage name Don Omar, is a Puerto Rican reggaeton singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer and actor. On September 1, 2017, he announced that he would retire after a ...

among others. ''The Boatlift'' spawned four

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

: " Go Girl", " The Anthem", "

Secret Admirer A secret admirer is an individual who feels adoration, fondness or love for another person without disclosing their identity to that person, and who might send gifts or love letters to their crush. Grade school The goal of a secret admirer is ...

", and "

Sticky Icky "Sticky Icky" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Pitbull featuring vocals from fellow American rapper Jim Jones. It was released on May 15, 2007 as the third single from Pitbull's third studio album ''The Boatlift''. The song was writ ...

". The song " Fuego (Remix)" was featured on the video game ''

Madden NFL 2008 ''Madden NFL 08'' is a 2007 American football video game based on the NFL that was published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. It is the 19th installment in the ''Madden NFL'' video game franchise. It features the former Tennessee Titan ...

''. The album received generally positive 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 ...

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.

Critical reception

''The Boatlift'' garnered a positive reception from music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 69, based on 5 reviews. 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." 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." Jose Davila of ''

Vibe ''Vibe'' is an American music and entertainment magazine founded by producers David Salzman and Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. After shutting down producti ...

'' 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." Wilson McBee of

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...

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."

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 databas ...

'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 ''El Mariel'' is the second studio album by Cuban-American rapper Pitbull. It was released on October 31, 2006 through TVT Records and Bad Boy Latino. The album was leaked onto the internet on October 27, 2006, four days before the album was rel ...

'', saying to consider ''The Boatlift'' "a fun floor-filler, but just not up to Pitbull's usual standards." 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 Rodney Hylton Smith, better known by his stage name Roots Manuva (born 9 September 1972), is a British rapper and producer. Since his debut in 1994, he has produced numerous albums and singles on the label Big Dada, achieving commercial succ ...

Commercial performance

''The Boatlift'' debuted at number 50 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling 22,398 copies in its first week. In its second week, the album dropped to number 134 on the chart, selling an additional 9,686 copies. As of April 2009, the album has sold 131,000 copies in the United States.

Track listing

Track listing confirmed by

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

, and songwriting credits was confirmed by

and the album's Liner Notes.Pitbull. "The Boatlift" Album Notes). TVT Records. 2007. ;Sample credits *"Go Girl" – Contains a sample of "

Big Poppa "Big Poppa" is a song by American rapper The Notorious B.I.G. It was released as the second single from his first studio album '' Ready to Die''. It features a sample of the song, " Between the Sheets" written by The Isley Brothers. "Big Poppa" w ...

" performed by

The Notorious B.I.G. Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in East Coast hip hop and particularly gangsta ...

, and " Party Like a Rockstar" performed by

Trina Katrina Laverne Taylor (born December 3, 1978), known professionally as Trina, is an American rapper. She rose to prominence in 1998 with her appearance on the Trick Daddy single "Nann Nigga". Trina has been described by '' XXL'' as "the most ...

. *"The Anthem" – Contains a sample of "El Africano" performed by

Wilfrido Vargas Wilfrido Radamés Vargas Martínez (; born April 24, 1949 in Altamira, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic) is a band leader, trumpeter, vocalist, arranger, composer and producer who was instrumental in making the merengue style a worldwide pheno ...

and "

Calabria 2007 "Calabria" is a song by Danish DJ/producer Rune Reilly Kölsch. It was originally released in 2003 by Credence, a sublabel of Parlophone Records. The song has been remixed or released in numerous other versions by different artists, the most suc ...

" performed by ENUR and

Natasja Natasja is a given name, and may refer to: *Natasja Crone Back, Danish journalist *Natasja Saad (1974–2007), Danish reggae and dancehall artist known as "Natasja"' or "Little T" *Natalya Panina (ballroom) *Natasja Shah, (1972-) Trinidad poet * Na ...

. *"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 ''

''. *"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 A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...

''.

Personnel

Unless otherwise noted, Information is taken from AllMusic and the album's Liner Notes *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 Urales Vargas (born March 15, 1980), known professionally as DJ Buddha, is an American DJ, record producer, radio personality, music publisher, and record executive from Lawrence, Massachusetts. In 2015, Buddha was enshrined into the Lawre ...

- 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 Julissa (born Julia Isabel de Llano Macedo; 8 April 1944 in Mexico City, D.F., Mexico) is a Mexican actress, producer and singer. She is the daughter of radio and television personality Luis de Llano Palmer and actress Rita Macedo. Her childr ...

- background vocals (15) *Dawin Lapache - guitar, bass guitar (15) *

Ari Levine The Smeezingtons were an American songwriting and record production team consisting of Bruno Mars (born 1985), Philip Lawrence (born 1980), and Ari Levine (born May 5, 1984). The Smeezingtons were established in Los Angeles, California; their ...

- recording engineer (16) *

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 cru ...

- 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 Richie Pangilinan (born in Chicago, Illinois), better known as DJ Riddler or The Riddler, is an American dance music, dance DJ, Music producer, producer, remixer, Online streamer, streamer, music director and radio personality, formerly with Hous ...

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

References

Bibliography

. . . . {{DEFAULTSORT:Boatlife, The 2007 albums Pitbull (rapper) albums Albums produced by Lil Jon Albums produced by Mr. Collipark