Legendary New Zealand hip hop artist Scribe has announced that his long-anticipated third album will be released next year. The rapper of Samoan descent details that the forthcoming 14-track album, rumored to be called either “The Crusader 2” or “Scribe Is Dead” will feature Keziah, rising Sydney star A.Girl, BKiddo, Micah, Lion REZZ, and Troy Kingi. A 12-episode documentary series on his life and career to date titled “Scribe – The Return of the Crusader” has recently finished production and will air later this year on TVNZONDEMAND, directed by filmmaker and long-time collaborator Chris Graham and produced by The Downlow Project and Scribe himself.
The New Zealand rapper from Christchurch, the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (also know as Ōtautahi in Māori) developed himself as a household name internationally and along with Mareko of Dawn Raid Entertainment really took New Zealand hip hop to an international level before South Auckland’s Savage dropped his platinum singles with Akon and Soulja Boy in the mid-2000s. Scribe award-winning debut, No. 1 selling multi-platinum 12-track album released back in October 2003 titled “The Crusader” spawned three classic singles including the longest-standing Number One single in New Zealand Chart History with 12 Weeks at number one for the debut single “Stand Up”, “Not Many The Remix!” (featuring Savage and Con Psy) and “Dreaming” – watch above and below.
After becoming the first Kiwi musician to simultaneously have a single and an album at number one on the charts, Scribe then went on to release his also award-winning second album in late September 2007, the 13-track “Rhyme Book” again on P-Money’s Dirty Records and now also Warner Music featuring New York’s Talib Kweli of Black Star, David Dallas (Duck Down Music) amongst others.
What later followed was a difficult decade for Scribe, one all too common for many people who find somewhat quick success and instant celebrity. Drugs, alcohol, gambling, prison amongst other issues all reared their head over a long and tough decade for Scribe – making the now soon-to-be-released third album and docu-series even just that little bit sweeter for himself, family, and legions of fans worldwide.
