When Petey Pablo wrote his hit song "Raise Up," he wanted to give North Carolina the recognition it deserved, but his record label at the time wasn't so sure they heard a hit.
"My label was like, 'Petey, we can’t put that song out because don’t nobody know what North Carolina is,'" Pablo told WRAL on Monday. "I’m like, 'This is all I’m giving you right now. Got to work with what you got.'"
Other WRAL Top Stories
Pablo, whose real name is Moses Barrett III, said the label requested he go back and at least put city or county names in the song. That's how Pasqoutank, Polk, Bladen and Marshall counties ended up in the song. The Triangle, Tarboro, Goldsboro and Statesville also get shoutouts.
The 2001 hit calls on North Carolinians to celebrate their love for the state by “spinning your shirt around your head like a helicopter.”
See the NCCU Sound Machine perform "Raise Up"
Growing up in Greenville, N.C., Pablo said the song was his way of trying to bring recognition to the state.
"Growing up...everyone who was from here wanted to be from somewhere else," Pablo said. "All my friends in the neighborhood, they're like, 'We’re from New Jersey.' They would go to New Jersey every summer and then come back and now they’re from New Jersey. 'We went to Sunday School together, you’re from here.'"
Pablo said no one really wanted to claim North Carolina, but not him.
"I'm so Carolina. Every day I was born and alive here, it was just a special moment for me. I can remember being a Boy Scout, I can remember singing in the boys choir, I can remember my first church solo, I had all the lead plays in school. I’m just so North Carolina man," he said.
Pablo said he remains that "little kid from Greenville."
"I’m just a regular country boy in my heart," he said.
The song is widely considered an anthem for North Carolinians. At University of North Carolina football games, the Tar Heels' marching band would play the song when the defense made a stop on third-down. In 2018, the Carolina Hurricanes announced they would play the song after every goal scored by the NHL hockey team.
The song could be headed for an official designation.
Last week, state Sen. Natalie Murdock filed a bill declaring rapper Petey Pablo’s censored version of “Raise Up” as the state's official hip-hop song.
When he heard about the proposal, Pablo said he was "in awe." And even if the bill doesn't pass, Pablo said it doesn't change what he believes is already the state's official hip hop song.
"It's something that’s inevitable," Pablo said. "Whether there is a bill that certifies it or not, it’s still what it is."
Pablo has continued to be busy. He is interested in pitching a show where he goes to all the places in North Carolina - all 100 counties. He is also creating a 40-acre park in Henderson he is dubbing "P4 -Petey Pablo Paradise Park."
"In 100 years, everybody that’s here probably won’t be here," Pablo said. "I want to lee something here for the people who come after us to enjoy. And understand, this one was for North Carolina."