Scribe at the St James Theatre

By REBECCA BARRY

A few weeks ago, no one would have imagined hundreds of baseball-capped white boys escorting their mini-skirted girlfriends to the St James to see a Kiwi hip-hop dude called Scribe.

So you would think he'd perform for at least an hour at his first real Auckland gig.

While it was a memorable, charismatic 50 minutes on stage, opening hit Not Many spoke volumes.

Either there were not many songs to sustain it past the obligatory 90 minutes - likely, considering three of the 14 on his album are remixes - or there were not many reasons not to take off for the after party. The hysterical screaming and amorous gazes from the pit made it clear his fans would have lapped him up had he played for five minutes.

Which is what happens when you become not just a hip-hop star but a pop star, too, most obvious during the slow and sultry My Lady. Lightly tapping his heart, the corners of his mouth turned up knowingly, it was as though he was in casual conversation with every red-blooded female in the room.

That effortless charm, that baring of soul:."That was my girl song," he blushed, as if to diffuse the hush.

At the other extreme, he sweated and spat out the passion and aggression that come through in rhymes most people would trip over in the first sentence.

There was the rhythmically challenging underdog song, Scribe 2001, from P-Money's Big Things album and the grittier tracks from his own, the patriotic number one hit Stand Up coming at the end. Ladi 6, his cousin and Verse 2 bandmate, joined him for that sweet, soulful number, So Nice, but he skipped the DJ Ali track, Too Late, perhaps because it was P-Money, not Ali, manning the decks.

There were plenty of brilliant technical moments from him, too, one where he virtually carved the melody out of the turntables.

Scribe did tricks, too. At the beginning of the gig he said his collaborator mates Deceptikonz couldn't make it - then who should turn up for the encore but Savage himself.

It was like reliving that spookily good music vid for the Not Many remix - the two South Aucklanders, Savage and Battle MC champ Con Psy bouncing around the stage with the Christchurch-bred star, shrouded in shadow.

The three of them did a fine job raawwck-ing the show to its exhilarating end. It's just a pity that came when it did.