What? #Pitbull? #Mr305? #MrWorldWide on MY CRUISE? yes!!! The real one! Armando Christian Perez was on board of the #NorwergianBLISS @NorwegianCruiseLine and took us with him on a journey “from a negative to a positive” as he told us the poignant story of his childhood. His ghetto upbringing taught him many lessons that he applied in his career as a now worldwide acclaimed entertainer, the only rapper with light skin and blue eyes in the game.

What I did not know was how the story went full circle last year as he was the Godfather of the new #NorwegianESCAPE which was christened somewhere in the waters between Cuba and the United States, the same waters that allowed his father to “ESCAPE” from Cuba many years prior, with nothing but the feeling that ‘he got out’, in his back pocket.

-From his song “Give me Everything” Planet Pit 2011

Here are a few lessons learned from Armando yesterday, as he was standing there, live, a few rows in front of me.

We are all searching for perfection. It doesn’t exist. In fact, it’s the reverse. To be imperfect is actual perfection.

We live in a world of instant gratification. “Me, me, me!” “Now, now, Right now!”

We need to be patient and see long term. He writes songs and performs so that he can make an impact to help global problem our planet is facing. His albums represent some major problems we are challenged with, Planet Pit, Global Warming, Climate Change, Globalization, etc.

He believes that education is part of the solution. He says: “I am not here to change the world, but I may be here to spark the mind of the person who will change the world”! One of his teachers changed his life when he was a kid, her name was actually HOPE. He has founded the SLAM Schools (https://www.slammiami.com) to

create Thinkers. Over 10 schools for sports leadership arts and management to help our kids turn their life around like he did.

“Nobody’s stupid, nobody’s dumb you just have figure out how YOU learn.”

-Pitbull’s mom.

He believes in giving back. Through the keys and helping out, somehow it created “crazy opportunities” for him, remarkably with #Nowegian. “Always be great when nobody’s watching.” Karma comes back to you.

He talked about how his daughter taught him about the word impossible: how she had found the word ‘possible’ is in it. And if you pause at the right place and ad space, you get: I’m Possible.

Message for kids:

Don’t let technology run your life, you run technology! Don’t let it run you. You run it. It’s just a device. Utilise technology but don’t let it use you.

Unfortunately, society is run by two words: “Followers” and “likes”. It is called social media but there is no socializing to it. He suggests instead to be unique and different. Instead of a follower, be a leader and instead of collecting likes, be unique.

 

We somehow live in Denial: “the largest river in the world” LOL!