Akhénaton

Born into the IAM collective as a French rapper and producer, Akhenaton built substantial recognition on his own. Philippe Fragione entered the world in Marseille on September 17, 1968, and passed the bulk of his childhood in the adjacent community of Plan-de-Cuques before encountering hip-hop in 1981. Regular trips to New York City, where his Italian father’s relatives resided, led American acquaintances to dub him “Chill Phil,” a moniker under which he began appearing in Marseille venues alongside his friend, the DJ Eric Mazel—later known as Khéops. Widespread attention first arrived through writing when he contributed the influential essay “La Deuxième Génération du Hip-Hop” to a 1988 edition of the fanzine Vé. That year also marked his recorded introduction on MC Choice’s “Let’s Make Some Noise.” After embracing Islam and adopting the name Akhenaton, drawn from the Egyptian pharaoh, he joined Khéops and the rapper Shurik’n to establish B.Boys Stance, which became IAM in 1989. Their Virgin debut …De la Planète Mars positioned the group among the leading French hip-hop acts of the era, reaching a peak with a breakthrough appearance at Britain’s Reading Festival in 1997 behind the hit album L’Ecole du Micro d’Argent. By then Akhenaton had already launched a solo career with the 1995 album Métèque et Mat. Capitalizing on IAM’s momentum, he moved into production and entrepreneurship, overseeing Passi’s Les Tentations, launching the imprint Côté Obscur, and establishing the publishing company La Cosca. Following his Victoire de la Musique-winning collaboration with Khéops on the soundtrack to the successful 1998 film Taxi, he completed his second solo project, Sol Invictus, released in 2001. Two years afterward he rejoined IAM for Revoir un Printemps, and the well-received Soldats de Fortune arrived in spring 2006.