Petey Pablo’s “Raise Up” Could Become North Carolina’s Official State Hip-Hop Song

Petey Pablo's Timbaland-produced 2001 anthem "Raise Up" is almost certainly the greatest song ever written about taking your shirt off, twisting it around your hand, and spinning it like a helicopter. Over the past quarter century, Petey Pablo's career has been through peaks and valleys, including a two-year stay in federal prison for the time he tried to bring a stolen gun on board a commercial flight. But "Raise Up" has never gone away. Just this year, it's been heavily referenced on songs from A$AP Rocky and Pablo's fellow North Carolina rapper J. Cole. Now, "Raise Up" could become North Carolina's official state hip-hop song.

As the legal reporter Jay Willis points out on Bluesky, the North Carolina state senate is now considering a bill to officially recognize the "censored version" of "Raise Up." That's a fine intention, but we can do better. For one thing: the radio edit? Come on now. For another, why couldn't "Raise Up" become the official state song, without isolating it into a genre bucket?

Right now, North Carolina's official state song is "The Old North State," which the state's Supreme Court Justice William Gaston wrote in 1835. As far as I know, nobody hoarsely screams the name of the state on that song, and nobody takes their shirt off, twists it around their hand, or spins it like a helicopter. Let's make this happen for real.