Kiwi rapper Scribe has announced his retirement from recording music – but not until after he releases his latest album tomorrow.
The 46-year-old Cantabrian, born Malo Loane Luafutu, has taken to social media to make the double announcement.
The album Scribe Is Dead has been advertised as being “packed with heavyweight” tracks featuring other artists, including Mareko, Leejun, Nikki Montana and Roarz.
“This is a fearless statement that the King is back – and sharper than ever,“ the promotional information stated.
The album includes 13 songs: Drowning, Newshub, Don’t Worry, Just Breathe, Arnold, Do or Die Don’t or Die, Glowstick, G.G., Destiny, Non-Attachment and 03 Forever and Billy Break.
Some of the tracks have been released over the last two years and others are yet to be heard by fans.
Scribe posted on Instagram about the new album this morning.
“I’m not doing any media or promo. Everything I want to say is in the music,” he wrote.
“The journey I had to take to get to this point ... is not for the faint-hearted.
“After tomorrow, I will be retired from recording music. God has put a new song in my heart and a new vision of His plan for me.
“I hope you enjoy my last contribution and most personal album to NZ hip-hop – a community I have always loved being a part of and always supporting in some way.”
He signed the message off “peace, love and hip-hop”.
Scribe captured the hearts of New Zealanders when his debut album The Crusader was released in 2003, going gold within hours and platinum after just a few days.
His hit Stand Up was awarded Single of the Year at the 2004 New Zealand Music Awards.
He also received two number one singles before releasing Dreaming in 2004, which went straight to number one.
In December 2023, he told Rolling Stone AU/NZ that the album was his “goodbye”.
“I have to go out the way I want to go out. All my songs have a message; everything is just what I want to say,” he said.
“I’m just in this phase of putting out this album that I’ve been talking about for like 100 years – but now I’m in the right frame of mind and spirit to be like, ‘I’m ready now to let these go’.
“I think I figured out that I’m never going to be happy. I’m such a perfectionist and ... I’m always unsure. It’s always pressure. But I think I took a lot of the pressure off myself because I think I’m so old now that it’s just about getting the music out.
“A lot of my writing is inspired by going through shit, and most of the time that’s how I manage it and deal with it. Obviously, I’ve been through a lot.”
The artist became a popular figure in New Zealand, with many children and aspiring musicians idolising the rapper and the positive messages in his lyrics.
In 2007, Scribe released his second album Rhyme Book, which included collaborations with his cousin Tyra Hammond and New York hip-hop artist Talib Kweli.
Scribe’s success was short-lived after revealing in 2011 he suffered from drug, alcohol and gambling addictions.
In the same year, Scribe revealed he got clean after racking up more than $5000 in debt to a Christchurch pawnbroker who sold several of the rapper’s awards – taken as security for a personal loan – on Trade Me.
In November 2011, Scribe was arrested in Wellington for disorder and released after being formally warned.
In March 2017, he posted that he had returned to rehab.
In August the same year, Canterbury police issued an appeal for information about the then-38-year-old’s whereabouts.
He faced a raft of charges, including possession of an offensive weapon, procuring or possessing methamphetamine, possession or use of methamphetamine utensils and two charges of failing to answer District Court bail.
In 2021, he spoke about all of his trials, tribulations and demons in an eight-part documentary.
Scribe: Return of The Crusader was positioned as a redemption documentary to promote his return to music.
It also included his friends’ and family’s accounts of what he went through during his life.
Anna Leask is a senior journalist who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 19 years with a particular focus on family and gender-based violence, child abuse, sexual violence, homicides, mental health and youth crime. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz