Hip-hop artist and spoken word poet Scroobius Pip held his first ever show in his hometown library last Friday as the last stop on his sell-out national book tour.

Mr Pip, who lives in the area, chose Stanford-le-Hope library for a ‘homecoming’ stop for a tour which had an “amazing” response, he says.

His new book, Distraction Pieces – the second he has penned - comes out of the runaway success of Pip’s podcasts on iTunes, which reached 6 million downloads last month.

All stops on his tour, including Thurrock, sold out months ahead of his appearances, publishers said.

Coming home was “great” Pip, otherwise known as David Meads, said, as the library was “a huge part of my life.”

He said: “I have lived in Stanford-le-Hope for 35 years but this is my first book tour in my home town. My mum runs the library in Thurrock and this was the first one she worked in.

“There were other venues in Thurrock we could have chosen, like the book store, but in the end we decided the library was the perfect choice – and even Waterstones came along to sell some books!”

The new book takes a deeper look at some of the taboo areas celebrities are less likely to discuss in a ‘soundbite’ interview, such as mental illness.

Pip said: “I was approached to do a book on the back of the podcasts I started two years ago. We get over 100,000 downloads a week.”

“We came up with the idea and I became hugely excited about it. It became a collection of topics and discussions on those subjects that people don’t normally talk about in short interviews.”

Among the extracts featured are celebrities Gail Porter talking candidly about a spell in a mental hospital and X Fm DJ Eddy Temple-Morris’ attempt to take his own life.

Pip said: “The discussions are by people who are perceived to be cool or have it all together, and they are talking about these things really candidly.

“By pure shock every show has been sold out. People have been absolutely amazing about it.”

Pip, who attended St Thomas Moore Secondary School and St Joseph’s Primary School, said he didn’t do “particularly well” at school, but one of his first attempts at writing was a little rap for their answerphone message age eight.

He said: “It wasn’t until I was older that I realised anything like that is poetry. I didn’t do particularly well at school which is surprising given that I have got two books out now!”

He also believes his stutter helped him develop as an artist.

“From the age of five I had a stutter, but I think that was what developed my kind of language ability.

“Whenever I was talking I was thinking ahead of my sentence. It developed my language. I had to line up my words in advance of my words. It made me develop better. I think I wouldn’t have actually gone on to do the things I’ve done if I hadn’t of had a stutter.

“We’ve had over 6 million downloads since then. It’s crazy! Ten years ago podcasts didn’t even exist! To reach 6 million people was mindblowing.”

The spoken word star told the Gazette he has even turned his hand to acting – with a forthcoming major role in anticipated TV drama Taboo starring Tom Hardy, along with a role in the Bastard Executioner last year.

Would he recommend a career in the arts to young people in Thurrock?

“Definitely,” he says. “It’s a thriving time in Thurrock. There’s a lot going on locally, there’s things being filmed in Thurrock and there’s many, many areas you can get into things. It’s a great time in the arts to be able to hop in between things.”

To listen to Mr Pip’s podcast, visit: http://www.scroobiuspip.co.uk/distraction-pieces-podcast/

To buy his book, visit: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Distraction-Pieces-Scroobius-Pip/dp/1844039129