Scribe (rapper)
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Scribe is the stage name of New Zealand rapper Malo Luafutu. His debut album, Crusader, was released in 2003 in New Zealand and has so far gone quadruple platinum in that country, achieving two number one singles.
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History
Scribe (real name Malo Luafutu) was born of Pacific Islander descent in Christchurch. He grew up as a fan of rap music from a youngster with NWA as his first influence. He spent his youth developing his rapping skills with local rap group Beats n' Peaces and Polynesian theatre company Pacific Underground.
He became more widely known throughout New Zealand with his guest appearance on P-Money's Big Things album. However he was still fairly unknown until the release of the double sided single "Stand Up"/"Not Many" in August 2003.
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 #5 on the New Zealand top 40 singles and soon rose to number 1. Amazingly the single spent 12 weeks at number one but not all in a row. The song was occasionally taken out for a week but then was back at #1 the following week. Part of its remarkable staying power owed to the fact that when people became sick of airplay of "Stand Up" the other side of the single "Not Many" enabled the song to remain high on the New Zealand charts.
Scribe's debut album Crusader was released and it 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 65,000 copies in New Zealand which is quadruple 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 reached a peak of #2 and then another single "Dreaming" in January 2004 and it also went to number one.
Scribe set the scene for new mass amount of new New Zealand to enter the market and soon new NZ hip hop was topping the charts. Scribe took a break from new singles and toured the country on the Hook Up Tour before he returned in late 2004 with a new single off P-Money's Magic City album called "Stop the Music" which again went to number one.
Discography
SOLO ALBUMS
- Crusader (2003)
#1 NZ, NZ #42 Album for 2003, #12 Australia, NZ Platinum x4, Australia Platinum
MAJOR ALBUM GUEST APPEARANCES
- P-Money - Big Things (2002) (Six Songs)
- P-Money - Magic City (2004) (Three Songs)
SINGLES
- "Sunshine"* (P-Money feat. Scribe) (April 2001)
- "Connect"* (Mareko & Scribe) (April 2001)
- "Scribe 2001"* (P-Money feat. Scribe) (2002)
- "Synchronise Thoughts"* (P-Money feat. 4 Corners & Scribe) (2002)
- "Remember?"* (P-Money feat. Scribe) (2002)
- "Stand Up"/"Not Many" (August 2003)
#1 NZ (12 weeks at #1), NZ #1 Song for 2003, Platinum NZ
- "Not Many - The Remix!"/"Stand Up" (12/03 NZ, 05/04 Australia)
#2 NZ, #21 Australia, #77 Song Australia 2004, Australia Gold
- "Dreaming"/"So Nice" (01/04 NZ, 11/04 Australia)
#1 NZ, NZ #14 Song for 2004, #23 Australia
- "Stop the Music" (P-Money feat. Scribe) (11/04 NZ, 04/05 Australia)
#1 NZ, NZ #12 Song for 2004, #7 Australia, Platinum New Zealand, Gold Australia <p>
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Notes
Originally the doubled sided single "Stand Up"/"Not Many" was released with both songs being popular enabling the single to remain on the top of the New Zealand singles charts for ten weeks and be the top "single" of the year. A few months later, after the initial single release, a new limited edition version was released containing a new version of "Not Many" called "Not Many - The Remix!" which also had the song "Stand Up". This second CD was also released in an unlimited version in Australia with the focus being on "Not Many - The Remix!" due to the chorus of "Stand Up" being about "NZ hip hop standing the **** up" <p>
- Single was not released to stores
Links
- Scribe home page (http://www.scribescribe.com/)
- Festival Music Records New Zealand artist page (http://www.fmrecords.co.nz/viewartist.cfm?ArtistId=484/)
- NZ Music bio (http://www.nzmusic.com/artist_bio.cfm?i=737/)
- New Zealand Herald Crusader review (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/entertainmentstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=3529371&thesection=entertainment&thesubsection=music&thesecondsubsection=reviews/)