North Carolina rap legend Petey Pablo could have one of his greatest odes to North Carolina become his state's official hip-hop song.

As legal journo Jay Willis pointed out on Bluesky, the General Assembly of North Carolina is considering a senate bill to recognize the radio edit of Pablo's 2001 banger "Raise Up" as the official hip-hop song of North Carolina.

Released a quarter-century ago, the song is the lead single to the Greenville, North Carolina rapper's 2001 debut studio album Diary of a Sinner: 1st Entry.

Produced by Timbaland and incorporating the sounds of the University of North Carolina Tar Heels marching band, Pablo shows love to his home state in both chorus and verse.

Pablo raps on the chorus, “This one’s for North Carolina! Come on and raise up / Take your shirt off, twist it ’round your hand / Spin it like a helicopter!”

From an outsider's perspective, the song just names a bunch of towns in North Carolina, but Pablo told Billboard the song is a bit deeper than that. "Each town name in the song is a location for a NC prison," the rapper said in 2017.

He elaborated further:

"That I just really wanted my hometown and my states to be proud of me. At the time, I had no idea the record would be as big as it was, and I just really wanted the recognition because my label [Jive Records], at first, didn’t want me to do that. They were like, 'Petey, nobody knows where North Carolina is. You’re gonna have to do something else.' I was like, no, I’m telling y’all, ‘cause I’m actually doing music for my people to be happy that someone made it out. This is what I’m gonna give you. It was kind of crazy."

The song has taken a life of its own since its release, with "Raise Up" becoming a staple of UNC football games and the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team naming the song its official goal song in 2018.

URGENT: There is now a bill pending in the North Carolina legislature to designate "Raise Up" by Petey Pablo as the state's official hip-hop song www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/202...

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— Jay Willis (@jaywillis.net) May 4, 2026 at 3:44 PM