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Scribe.
It's been a busy couple of years for Scribe since he burst on to the scene with a starring role in P-Money's debut album 'Big Things'. His own 'The Crusader' was released shortly thereafter and has gone quadruple platinum in his native New Zealand, and is close to being certified platinum here. Though he plays a less prominent role on P's second long player 'Magic City' the two still collaborate closely and will be touring together shortly behind the release.
'Magic City' saw P venturing overseas for a number of collaborations, something that Scribe puts says he's been trying to do for a while; "back in the 'Big Things' days, I was like the only MC that he knew but over the years he's made a lot of contacts. It's always been a goal of P's to be an American rapper/producer and he's achieving that." Scribe, on the other hand, isn't interested in venturing outside his homeland, except maybe to Australia. "I had the option of using some American producers but the thing with me is that I really want to keep it local, 100%."
He's working on a follow up to "The Crusader" now, putting in overtime to get the album out by October, but when I ask him if we'll get a sneak peek at some of his material, he becomes cagey. "I'm actually looking at it right now. The thing is with my new stuff right now that I've been working on, I've got a few songs finished that I would love to premiere but the beats haven't been mastered and mixed down so the quality is going to be shit." Nevertheless, he assures me that the quality of the album will be high, with his main goal being "just to make good music. I don't think that there's any way that I could top 'The Crusader''s success, but it'll be a lot more mature."
Part of the reason that a follow up has taken so long is that "The Crusader" has really gotten a push outside of New Zealand, first here and now in the UK where Not Many is about to be released as a single. After venturing over there for the Notting Hill carnival last year, Scribe is keen on breaking the market, and he lets drop that he's been working on some material with Mike Skinner (The Streets) who he met at this year's Big Day Out. When I ask him how hard it is to stay hungry for success after what he's achieved, he laughs lightly as he tells me that "it's not really that hard. It was harder staying motivated back then, you know. I had bills to pay and I had to eat and I had to pay my rent... I don't exactly have that kind of problem now and I can just concentrate on my music which is what everyone wants me to do, so it's easy to stay motivated."
It's ironic that he has no interest in cracking the American market at the moment considering the emphasis that many critics have placed on the American accent that he affects in his rhymes, a habit that he defends as a stylistic device. "Now and then, I try and drop in a word the way [New Zealanders] would say it," he points out, but for the most part, "there's just certain words that sound wack in our accent, words that just sound weird if you don't put that American twang to it. It doesn't sound natural."
On the other hand, the content of Scribe's lyrics are entirely rooted in his experiences of growing up in New Zealand, and this is what has endeared him to his fans at home. With the eyes of a nation on him, there are a lot of things that he does differently now; "A lot of responsibility comes with this and it's actually matured me a lot and made me realise that there's a lot of good I can do." Late last year, he came under a lot of scrutiny after it was rumoured that he had beaten up a radio host at a Christmas party, but Scribe says that the event was blown out of all proportion- "I never actually got into the fight. It was a friend of mine that did all the damage and I actually broke the fight up in the end. I was just a victim of tall poppy stuff. Just because I was there, people thought of Scribe."
He's certainly grateful for the chance to reach out to people's lives, but at the same time he acknowledges that fame has many pitfalls and one of the things that Scribe likes least about life in the public eye is that people have a tendency to forget that "at the end of the day I'm just human. I'm just like any normal person, if you stare at me for too long I'm gonna wonder what the hell's up." Except when he's on stage, of course, and he's grateful for all the attention that he's received from Australian audiences. In fact, that's why he's coming back; "this tour is just my way of saying thanks before I release my next album."
Alexis Buxton-Collins
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Scribe and P-Money play at Heaven on Fri 13 May.
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