Petey Pablo came to fame in 2001, hitting the scene with his forever popular single "Raise Up", in honor of his home state North Carolina. From promotion efforts including rotation on MTV and urban radio stations "Raised Up" rose to number 25 on Billboard Hot 100. His album Diary of a Sinner: 1st Entry peaked at number 13 on Billboard 200 and was certified Gold by the RIAA.
Petey Pablo had more success in 2003, receiving a Grammy Nomination for his debut album. He came with an second album, Still Writing in My Diary: 2nd Entry, showing the same strength in his music as he did with his first album. His second album had great success peaking at number 4 on Billboard 200 and being certified Gold by the RIAA. The popular single associated with this album was "Freek-A-Leek" which rose to number one on Billboard Hot 100 becoming his best single to date. Petey also gained more momentum in the music industry with his feature on Ciara's "Goodies" which was a chart topper on Billboard Hot 100.
After having great commercial success and two gold albums, Petey Pablo disappeared from the music industry leaving us with one question. What happened to him?
Music during the time of Petey Pablo's reign was Southern Crunk Music. Music that was good for a moment but did not have the lyrical quality of being music that could sustain relevancy as times changed. In this case, when the time changed Petey Pablo did not change with it. He was not an evolving artist which caused him to lose his popularity as an top artist in the music industry.