Scribe (rapper)

Malo Luafutu (born on 29 May 1979) better known by his stage name Scribe, is a New Zealand hip hop rapper and recording artist of Samoan descent. His debut album, The Crusader, was released in 2003 in New Zealand where it has since gone five times platinum, achieving two number one singles. In 2010, he featured on R&B singer J.Williams single You Got Me which reached number one on the RIANZ charts.

New Zealand Hip Hop Stands Up

With the initial focus on the song "Stand Up", director Chris Graham gave the video for the single the energy of a rock video with invited music guests, DJs and even the general public invited to be in the video. The song debuted at #6 on the New Zealand top 40 singles and soon rose to number 1. Amazingly the single spent 12 (non-consecutive) weeks at number one. Part of its staying power can be attributed to the fact that when the public became sick of airplay of "Stand Up" the other side of the single "Not Many" could be played, thereby enabling the song to remain high on the New Zealand charts.

Scribe's debut album The Crusader was released in New Zealand in October 2003 by Dirty Records with distribution through Festival Mushroom Records. The album went gold within hours and platinum within days. It has so far sold 85,000 copies in New Zealand, which is five times platinum status in that country.

Scribe followed the success of the album with the limited edition release of "Not Many - The Remix!" featuring guest vocals from MCs Savage and Con Psy which peaked at No. 2 and then released a new single "Dreaming" in January 2004, which also reached No. 1.

Scribe took a break from new singles and toured the country on the Hook It Up tour before he returned in late 2004 with a new single off P-Money's Magic City album called "Stop the Music", again reaching No. 1.

Rhyme Book

Scribe's second studio album titled Rhyme Book was a released in Australia on 29 September 2007 and in New Zealand on 1 October 2007. Rhyme Book did not sell as well as its predecessor. It featured collaborations with New York hip hop artist Talib Kweli (of Reflection Eternal and Black Star fame) on the track "Be Alright". The first single off the album in New Zealand, "My Shit", had its video premiere on Sunday, 12 August on local music channel C4. "F.R.E.S.H." was the second single released in New Zealand. The first single in Australia however was "F.R.E.S.H.", followed by "My Shit". The third single in both countries was "Say It Again", which features Scribe's cousin Tyra Hammond.

Personal struggles and addictions^[1]

In 2011, Scribe came clean on Campbell Live, describing how he became addicted to drugs, alcohol and gambling addictions between 2005 to 2007, especially due to Rhyme Book's poor sales. His addiction led to his family denying him access to money, to the point that he had to pawn off many of his platinum awards he won from his debut album. However, he may never be able to buy the awards back.

In November 2011 Scribe was arrested in Wellington for disorder and released after being formally warned.^[2]

Christchurch earthquake

Scribe released a remix of his single 'Not Many' to show support for the victims of the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes. 'Not Many Cities' features Scribe rapping in different parts of the CBD's red zone, with altered lyrics such as 'I don't know any city,' instead of 'I don't know anybody'. Although his video received positive attention from the media, there was outcry from some Christchurch residents who claimed it was unfair that Scribe was allowed in the red zones when red zone business owners were not.

Shortly after the remix's release, Scribe announced that he was working on a third album, which he hoped to release in mid-2012.

Family

Scribe is the cousin of other prominent Samoan New Zealand musicians Ladi6^[3] and Tyra Hammond of The Opensouls.^[4]

Discography

Solo albums

Major album guest appearances

• P-Money - Big Things (2002) (Six Songs)
• Concord Dawn - Uprising (2003) (One Song)
• P-Money - Magic City (2004) (Three Songs)
• P-Money - Everything (2010) (Three Songs)

Singles

As featured artist

References

External links

• Scribe on Myspace
• Festival Music Records New Zealand artist page
• Baillie, Russell (18 October 2003). "Scribe: The Crusader". New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=3529371. Retrieved 2009-04-09. 
• "Close encounter with Scribe". Sunday Star Times. 12 August 2007. http://www.stuff.co.nz/4162188a1860.html. Retrieved 2009-04-09.