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Article published In:
Spanish in Context
Vol. 14:2 (2017) ► pp.250–272

Y yo soy cubano, and I’m impatient

Frequency and functions of Spanish switches in Pitbull’s lyrics

| University of Manitoba

This article examines Cuban-American rapper Pitbull’s use of Spanish in his seven English albums, drawing from the literature on lyrical code-switching and Sarkar and Winer’s (2006) socio-pragmatic framework for the analysis of multilingual code-switching in Quebec rap. It was found that Pitbull’s highest rates of Spanish language use appear in songs with hegemonic masculinity as main topic, and that Spanish switches are used mostly for emphasis/translation, and for enacting a hypersexual, hypermasculine identity consistent with rap and reggaeton expectations of masculinity. Pitbull’s use of Spanish legitimizes Latinos’ code-switching practices and allows him to articulate a bilingual/bicultural Latino rapper identity, but also perpetuates stereotypes that link Spanish and Spanish-speaking men to sex and sexuality.

Keywords: code-switching, rap, socio-pragmatics
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Previous studies on code-switching in music
  • 3.The artist
  • 4.Methodology
    • 4.1The corpus
    • 4.2Identifying and analyzing Spanish switches
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1H1: Pitbull’s use of Spanish increases as he forays into mainstream sounds
    • 5.2H2: The use of Spanish is more common in songs referring to Pitbull’s street cred
    • 5.3H3: Spanish switches are used to draw attention to Pitbull’s Latin identity and to address women in an overtly sexualized manner
      • 5.3.1Pragmatic function
      • 5.3.2Performative function
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Discography
  • References
Published online: 19 October 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sic.14.2.05lou
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