London, Nov 21 (IANS): Cuban-American rapper Pitbull was left homeless as a teenager after his mother kicked him out of her house for dabbling in drugs.

The 31-year-old was told to pack his belongings and leave home after his mother discovered he was running with the wrong crowd in their Miami, Florida neighbourhood.

"She said, 'Grab what you can in 20 minutes and get out!' I respect my mom, my mom is my father and my mother and she's the one that has made me a man," femalefirst.co.uk quoted Pitbull as saying.

"She spoke very clearly with me and I broke the deal... She goes, 'I understand that you're gonna be out here, due to the neighbourhood that we live in and you're gonna be dibbling and dabbling, whatever, but there's one thing that I don't want you to do and that's be involved with this type of substance or product,' and I did.

"I respected the fact that she said, 'I understand what's going on out there... I understand that you might get in trouble.'"