North Carolina rapper Petey Pablo wins a new honor to ‘Raise Up’ in his home state
Petey Pablo, the Greenville-born rapper who poured North Carolina into his lyrics — penning an unofficial state anthem with “Raise Up” — will soon join Tar Heel immortals in the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame.
The 50-year-old star who got his start when a record executive heard him rapping in a New York club’s bathroom will join the Hall’s 132 artists, which spans the state’s musical spectrum from James Taylor to Nina Simone to Earl Scruggs to Big Daddy Kane.
“Raise Up,” with its call-and-response lyrics and its chorus of “take your shirt of and spin it like a helicopter,” got chosen as the Carolina Hurricanes’ goal celebration song in 2018.
Its video, filmed in Raleigh, features a New Bern Avenue street sign and hundreds of extras dancing in Carolina blue.
“It’s basically just representing North Carolina, our accomplishments,” Pablo told The N&O in 2001, when the song was released. “We’ve been here just as long as every other state, but have yet to be recognized in the music industry. So it’s a big celebration, everybody representing North Carolina.”
The Hall of Fame, which is in Kannapolis near Charlotte, will induct six new artists this year, including Pablo. The others are:
Clarence Avant
Known as “The Black Godfather,” the Greensboro-born record producer kept out of the spotlight but managed jazz and R&B artists from Sarah Vaughan to Jimmy Smith. As a record executive, he signed Bill Withers and became widely known for ensuring Black artists got equal recognition and pay.
Honors include induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Mary Cardwell Dawson
A native of Madison, she started her own music school in Pittsburgh and founded the National Negro Opera Company in 1941. President John F. Kennedy named her to the National Music Committee.
Merge Records
The Durham-based independent record label celebrated its 35th anniversary this year, founded by Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance of Superchunk. In that time, it has grown from making friends’ records in a bedroom to an influential label releasing Neutral Milk Hotel, The Mountain Goats and She & Him.
Tommy Faile
The South Caroline baritone is best-known for his 1967 hit “Phantom 309” and the comic song “The Legend of the Brown Mountain Lights.” His popular and self-named show aired on WBTV in Charlotte.
Bobby Hicks
Hicks’ 50-plus albums and fiddling style have shaped bluegrass heavily enough to net him 10 Grammys and set him in the genre’s hall of fame. He spent more than 20 years playing with Ricky Skaggs and has also worked with Porter Waggoner and Bill Monroe.
Tickets for the Oct. 17 ceremony in Mooresville can be purchased at https://northcarolinamusichalloffame.org/
