Akhenaton French Rapper Known for Comme un aimant

Early life

Akhenaton was born Philippe Fragione on 17 September 1968 in the 3rd arrondissement of Marseille. He spent his youth in Plan-de-Cuques, a small village on the edge of the city. His family has Italian roots, with ancestors who emigrated from several parts of Italy.

He discovered hip-hop in 1981 and began traveling regularly to New York City, where he picked up the nickname "Chill Phil". Around the same time, back in Marseille, he met the DJ Éric Mazel, who later became known as Khéops. The two began working together to promote French hip-hop.

Career

In 1988 Fragione published an essay, La deuxième génération du hip-hop, in a fanzine called Vé, presenting himself first as a writer on the genre. That year he also appeared on the B-side of a single by the American rapper MC Choice. Back in Marseille, he met Geoffroy Mussard, known as Shurik'n, and Malek Brahimi, known as Freeman. Taking the name Akhenaton, he formed a group with Khéops and Shurik'n called B.Boys Stance, which was renamed IAM in 1989. Freeman, Imhotep and Kephren joined later. Four of the six members chose stage names taken from ancient Egypt.

IAM stayed anchored in Marseille rather than adopting the confrontational themes of other French rap of the period, and Akhenaton has said that rappers from the city are more socially conscious because of a strong sense of community. After the group's first three albums did well, he released his first solo record, Métèque et mat, in 1995. It sold about 300,000 copies. The solo catalogue continued with 11'30 contre les lois racistes in 1997, Sol Invictus in 2001, Black Album in 2002, the compilation Double Chill Burger: Quality Best of in 2005, Soldats de Fortune in 2006, We Luv New York in 2011 and Je suis en vie in 2014, eight albums in all. He has also kept up his work with IAM, whose albums include Revoir un printemps in 2003 and Saison 5 in 2007.

He is active as a producer as well. He has worked on songs for several French rappers and groups, among them Passi, Stomy Bugsy, Fonky Family, La Brigade and Le 3ème Œil, and on Freeman's solo career. He produced Passi's album Les tentations in 1997. He has also recorded and worked under the aliases Chill, AKH, Sentenza and Spectre. He created the record label Côté Obscur, the publishing house La Cosca and the vinyl label 361, and 361 Records is among the labels listed with his releases.

Akhenaton has worked in film as well as music. He is credited as writer and director of the films Comme un aimant and Conte de la frustration, the latter released in 2010.

Recognition

For the soundtrack of the film Taxi, Akhenaton was nominated for the César Award for Best Music Written for a Film in 1999. In 2015 he won the Victoire de la musique in the urban music album category for Je suis en vie.