Akhenaton

Also known as IAM, Philippe Fragione

Biography

Philippe Fragione was born on September 17, 1968 in the 13th arrondissement of Marseille. Coming from a family of Italian immigrants from Naples, young Philippe and his brother Fabien live in the suburbs of Marseille with their mother, an EDF employee. After a stay with his father's family living in New York in 1982, Philippe discovered rap. From that day on, his outlook on life changed completely. He will abandon his studies in the first year of DEUG in biology. His first recording appearance is on the title This Is The B Side, B side of the vinyl Let's Make Some Noise by Choice MC's recorded in Brooklyn in 1988, making it the first Franco-American rap featuring. Back in Marseille, his meetings with Shurik'n, Kheops and Imothep led to the creation of the group. IAM, and in 1989 they released the self-produced cassette "Concept". In 1991, the first studio album of the group De La Planète Mars was released, the success was such that many would affirm that the IAM group was 5 years ahead of the competition. Akhenaton converted to Islam in 1993, shortly before his marriage to Aïcha, thus becoming Abdel Hakim.

In 1993, IAM's second studio album "Ombre Est Lumière" was released. With the success of the title "Je danse le Mia" (1993), the group expanded its audience beyond French rap. Akhenaton released his first solo album, in October 1995, "Métèque Et Mat", a personal work, where he confirmed his status as the best French rapper, which sold 300,000 copies. Akhenaton invests himself in production, sets up a label Côté Obscur and a publishing house, La Cosca. He wrote with Kheops the soundtrack, in 1998, for the film “Taxi” produced by Luc Besson. In February 99, they received the Victoire de la Musique for best original soundtrack. At the end of the 90s, he co-signed with Kamel Saleh the feature-length fiction film “Comme Un Aimant”. Akhenaton composes the soundtrack with Bruno Coulais.

In 2001, Akhenaton returned solo with "Sol Invictus", which sold more than 175,000 copies. In November 2002, he released a "Black Album" made up of pieces composed during the recording of the previous album, but not retained, and of titles intended for soundtracks. In 2003, IAM released "Revoir Un Printemps". At the end of 2005, Akhenaton released "Double Chill Burger", a compilation of his solo tracks with 8 unreleased tracks. In 2006, he released the solo “Soldats De Fortune”. IAM's album, "Season 5" was released in 2007. The group celebrated their 20 years of existence with a concert at the foot of the pyramids of Giza, Egypt, in March 2008. In 2011, Akhenaton and Faf Larage released the album "We Luv New York". Akhenaton published his fifth solo opus, "Je Suis En Vie", in the fall of 2014, which received the Victory for urban music album of the year 2015. Also in 2015, Akhenaton provided artistic direction, at the Institut du Monde Arabe, from the exhibition “Hip hop, From the Bronx to the Arab Streets”. With IAM they released the albums “Rêvolution” in 2017 and “Yasuké” in 2019, accompanied by concerts. In 2020 he composed "Asteroid", an album of seventeen tracks which he put online on YouTube on June 8, 2020. In October 2020, Akhenaton and Shurik'n appear on the album "13'Organisé" initiated by Jul, with the title "I am Marseille".

Biography