"I Know You Want Me" is a song by American singer and rapper Pitbull released as the second single from his fourth album, Pitbull Starring in Rebelution. The song samples "75, Brazil Street" by Nicola Fasano and Pat Rich, which itself samples the opening horns riff from "Street Player" by Chicago. The core is from a song by Dominican rappers El Cata and Omega. The title is a reference to Calle Ocho, a street in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood. The song premiered on the Miami radio station WPOW. It has also been featured in Dance Central, the Xbox 360 Kinect-based dancing game, Dance Dance Revolution X2 for PlayStation 2, the PlayStation 3 PlayStation Move-based dancing game SingStar Dance, and in the pilot of Suburgatory. It received a nomination a Latin Rhythm Airplay Song of the Year at the 2010 Latin Billboard Music Awards.
Music video
The music video was first released on March 9, 2009 by Ultra Music on YouTube and was directed by David Rousseau and Produced by Alexandra Sdoucos. It features Pitbull, Nayer, and models Sagia Castañeda, Maria Milian, and Angelica Casañas. It has received over 250 million views even though this particular upload is not available for worldwide viewership due to licensing restrictions in certain countries. "I Know You Want Me " was the number one most viewed music video on YouTube in 2009. The video received 82 million views, easily beating out the second and third most viewed videos both by Disney star Miley Cyrus, "The Climb" and "Party In The USA". The official music video version was released onto Pitbull's official Vevo channel on May 25, 2011. It has received over 3 million views even though this particular upload is not available for worldwide viewership due to licensing restrictions in certain countries.
Composition
"I Know You Want Me " is an uptempo syncopated hip hop groove with clear vocals on the chorus and a pop hook while combining Eurodancesynths with a tribal house-oriented beat. The song is set in common time with a moderate tempo of 128 beats per minute and is written in the key of D minor. Pitbull's vocal range spans from C4 to Bb4. The song is a vocal mix of "75, Brazil Street" by Nicola Fasano Vs Pat-Rich, which itself samples "Street Player" by Chicago. For the release by Pitbull, the sample of "Street Player" was replayed by Mark Summers at .
Critical reception
The song received mixed reviews with Billboard.com editor Michael Menachem giving the single a favorable review: Fraser McAlpine of the BBC also favored it. He said it was meant to be sexy given how Pitbull performed the verses, but is fun and 'more gigglesome than wrigglesome', and wondered if its effect would vary between listeners of different genders:
Chart performance
"I Know You Want Me " is Pitbull's first single to become an international hit. The single peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. for one week with the issue dated June 20, 2009 behind The Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow". The song became Pitbull's most highest-peaking single to date until "Give Me Everything" hit number one, also becoming his third top-10 hit. It also reached number one on the French charts and number 4 on the Mainstream Top 40 radio. In the UK the single debuted at number 53 then raising to number 28 the following week, in the third week it reached number 13 and in the fourth week it reached number 9, giving Pitbull his first top 10 single in the UK. The following week it moved up again to number 7, peaking at number 4 a week later. The song has also peaked at number 7 in Australia making it his first song to hit the top 10 there, while in Spain the song reached number one and has been certified 3x Platinum with sales over 120,000 units. In New Zealand, the song peaked at number 3 and was certified Platinum, selling over 15,000 copies. As of June 2011, "I Know You Want Me" has sold 3.2 million digital copies in the United States.
