Scribe is the stage name of New Zealand rapper Malo Luafutu. His debut album, The Crusader, was released in 2003 in New Zealand and has so far gone five times platinum in that country, achieving two number one singles.
He was born of Samoan descent in Christchurch, where he grew up as a fan of rap music 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.
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. 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 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 reached a peak of #2 and then another single “Dreaming” in January 2004 and it also went to number one.
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” which again went to number one.
Scribe’s second studio album titled Rhyme Book was released in Australia on 29 September 2007 and in New Zealand on 1 October 2007. Notably Rhyme Book features a collaboration 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 (for New Zealand), “My Shit” had its video premiere on Sunday, August 12 on local music channel C4. “F.R.E.S.H.” will be released in New Zealand as the second single. The first single in Australia is “F.R.E.S.H.” and will be followed by “My Shit”. The Third Single is “Say It Again” and features Scribe’s Cousin Tyra Hammond. We have the video for a couple of those tracks in the media section.
Scribe has also made major guest appearances with label mate P-Money, recording six songs on P-Money’s 2002 “Big Things” album and three songs on the 2004 “Magic City” album.
All in all, Scribe boasts three number ones and a number two in his native New Zealand, and has charted at number seven in Austrlia (where his track “Stop the Music” with P-Money went gold).
DISCOGRAPHY
- Crusader (2003)
- Rhyme Book (2007)
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