Cardinal, pine and ... ‘Raise up’? NC considers Petey Pablo hit as official song
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- Senators reintroduced a bill to name Petey Pablo’s “Raise Up” NC’s official hip-hop song.
- The bill was filed one day before Pablo’s appearance at a large Raleigh teachers rally.
- The bill cites the 2001 song’s lyrics and calls it an “anthem” for the state.
A group of Democratic North Carolina senators have reintroduced a bill seeking to establish an official hip-hop song for the state.
Joining the ranks of the cardinal and the longleaf pine among North Carolina’s iconic symbols would be the song “Raise Up” by rapper Petey Pablo, a native of Greenville.
Sen. Natalie Murdock, of Durham, filed the bill last week — just one day before Pablo made a special appearance at a massive rally in Raleigh in support of teachers.
Murdock filed a similar bill last year, but the Republican-controlled legislature did not take up the proposal.
This year’s bill, which is also sponsored by Sens. Kandie Smith and DeAndrea Salvador, calls “Raise Up” a “tribute to the people of North Carolina” that “maintains its cultural significance as an anthem for the state.”
“Raise Up” was released in 2001 and includes a variety of allusions to the state in the lyrics.
In the chorus, Pablo raps, “This one’s for North Carolina, come on and raise up.”
He goes on to reference a smattering of North Carolina counties and towns, later telling Billboard in 2017 that he was naming different prisons throughout the state.
In 2024, North Carolina’s delegates to the Democratic National Convention announced their votes for Vice President Kamala Harris while “Raise Up” played in the background.
Pablo, whose real name is Moses Barrett III, has released three studio albums and appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2003 for his single “Freek-a-Leek.”
Pablo received a Grammy nomination that same year for Best Rap Album. He was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2024.
This story was originally published May 4, 2026 at 2:34 PM with the headline "Cardinal, pine and ... ‘Raise up’? NC considers Petey Pablo hit as official song."
