Carolina Panthers cornerback Josh Norman wore a wrestling mask. Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach learned how to dab. Deion Sanders gifted Cam Newton with an even more atrocious-looking pair of Versace pants than the $849 pair the star quarterback arrived in for this weekend’s Super Bowl 50.
On Monday alone, all those spectacles took place during Super Bowl media day. But where in the hell was North Carolina “Raise Up” rapper Petey Pablo, whose new Panthers anthem “Carolina Colors” has become synonymous with the team’s #KeepPounding mantra? And where’s Petey Pablo’s Super Bowl ticket? Who’s to blame?
Maybe the slew of random North and South Carolina rappers releasing their own half-cooked, Panthers-inspired anthems has diverted attention away from North Carolina’s anthem king. In November, Durham rapper Danny Blaze released his own high-fueled anthem, “Cam Newton.” Two months later, when Petey Pablo dropped “Carolina Colors,” Blaze tweeted, “I’MA LET YALL FINISH BUT I BEEN HAD A PANTHERS ANTHEM AND ITS BETTER. SHOUT OUT TO PETEY DOE.” A subsequent, upgraded “Cam Newton” remix—featuring Raleigh’s Drique London and Charlotte’s Will Wildfire—arrived four days later.
At nearly half-a-million YouTube views and pounding, “Carolina Colors” is certainly the most popular of any Panthers anthem. While traveling to California to work on some final mixes for new music, Petey Pablo spoke by phone with the INDY about the success of “Carolina Colors”—and a whole lot more.
