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Scribe: The Crusader

Telling tales of poverty, lost love, dreams and childhood memories, Scribe brings real hip-hop on an album which has broken numerous records since its release in mid-October. Including production of an incredibly high standard, provided by P-Money, Shan and Ali, guitarist JoJo helps to break the 'heavy-bass’ trend on the soft ballad My Lady (K.J.T Acoustic Version). Out on Dirty/FMR, the 12 track CD has 10 originals and two remixes. Dreaming, My Lady (Remix), So Nice which features Ladi 6 and the classic Too Late all follow a laid back trend. But the star Scribe takes these instrumentals to another level when he drops his rhymes. Whether in double time, over a chilled beat or something more blazing and hyped like the Roc-a-fella comparative Stronger featuring Tyna, Scribe gets up in it, holds his own and verbally rips bars to shreds - but in a nice way. For my money he’s easily up there with the top quarter of international MCs, in terms of content, flow, emphasis and presence. Of course we can’t forget the 10 week No. 1 hit Stand Up, or the amalgamation of New Zealand’s finest on Not Many - The Remix!, or either video, both of which are included on this disc. As he once said, "It’s been a long time comin, yo", but the patience has obviously paid off. Undoubtedly the best NZ hip-hop album to date, consistent the whole way through without too many guest artists causing clutter, this should be album of the year.

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