THEY may not know what the lyrics of his hit song Calle Ocho mean, but Pitbull’s fans all over the world sing along anyway.

And the Cuban-American rapper is starting to get used to the sheer number of fans who sing along to his mostly Spanish-language hit.

Pitbull, whose real name is Armando Perez, will be making a stop in Singapore as part of his ongoing 42-city world tour.

His hit, I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho), may have reached the No 2 spot on the Billboard charts, but success has been a long time coming.

“This is the first year I’ve felt truly free to domymusic and make sure it gets heard by people,” he told The New Paper over the phone from his home in Miami. “It didn’t use to be like that.”

Perez has been fighting for stardom since 2004, when he slowly started dabbling in crunk – or “Southern rap” – inMiami.

A meeting with hip hop producer Irv Gotti – who’s worked with Ja Rule and Ashanti – in2001 amounted to nothing.

Perez then got a big break recording a song with Lil Jon on the latter’s 2002 album Kings Of Crunk.

He followed that with three albums – M.I.A.M.I., El Mariel and The Boatlift – but there were some legal tussles with his record label in getting them released.

His move to dance label Ultra Records, which released his latest album Rebelution, has been “liberating”, said Perez.

The label also represents David Guetta, Armin van Buuren and Paul Oakenfold.

The music career may never have even happened, though.

Perez dabbled in drug dealing in his teenage years, but was “saved” by rap music – Snoop Dogg, Nas, The Notorious B.I.G. and Jay-Z.

He told the Washington Post in 2004 that once he discovered rap music, he focused on making a career out of it, pushing himself to graduate from high school and earn a living for his family.

Having grown up with Cuban music and poetry in his home, he also fell in love with Hispanic artistes Celia Cruz and, yes, Gloria Estefan.

“Music, to me, is therapy. If I didn’t have it, I’d probably end up in a jail somewhere,” he said.

His hard work and dedication have paid off.

The globetrotter is hardly at home – so much so that fans have changed his nickname from Mr 305 (the calling code for the state of Miami) to Mr Worldwide.

He worked on the Backstreet Boys’ last album This Is Us and is featured on a new single by rap legend Cypress Hill.

He will work on an anthem for football team Miami Dolphins with T-Pain and Jimmy Buffett. He will be releasing his first Spanish language album, Armando, in a few months, with a new English album following soon after.

For now, he’ll be focusing on taking a high-energy live show to his fans here, while still looking dapper in his signature three-piece suit and sunglasses.

“I’ve heard from other DJs that the clubs are amazing in Singapore, so I expect people to come out with a lot of energy,” he said.

“It’s going to be a great hour and a half for people to come out and not think about bills or any of that negative stuff.”