Akhenaten is the man who in a very short time has become one of the most influential media personalities. He is also one of the most listened to and respected representatives of rap in France.
He is a very interesting person - his speech in the texts is understandable, but sometimes harsh. The performer borrowed his pseudonym from the history of Ancient Egypt.
Akhenaten was the name of one of the Egyptian pharaohs. Perhaps it was the similarity of these two personalities that prompted the rapper to choose this name. Akhenaten was a decisive and powerful reformer of his time, in fact, like the rapper Akhenaten.
The childhood and youth of Philip Fragione
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 lived in the suburbs of Marseille with their mother, an employee of the EDF company.
Philip was not interested in school, and at the same time he was very curious and ready to learn.
At the age of 8, he was bought an encyclopedia, which he studied from cover to cover. He was seriously fascinated by dinosaurs, and then - and Ancient Egypt. That is how he found the inspiration that gave him the pseudonym Akhenaten (the name of the pharaoh is Amenophis IV).
Rap at 17
Until his 16th birthday, Philip, also called Chill, devoted his free time to friends, football and reading books. While living with his father's family in New York for a while (his father was a welfare official), Philip discovered rap.
The guy was only 17 years old when he decided to take up hip-hop. At first he decided to get an education, but he dropped out in his first year of DEUG in biology.
Friendship with Shurik'n, Kheops and Imothep allowed the guy to create a group. In 1989, under the name IAM, the band released a self-produced cassette. In 1991 the band's first album, De La Planète Mars, was released.
Undoubtedly, Akhenaten quickly became the leader of the IAM group. He interested listeners with his charisma, glibness, understanding of criticism, as well as sincerity in communicating with media personalities.
Philip knew how to popularize rap. In addition, he intervened in political and social discussions, thereby expressing his opinion on various issues.
Chill was very interested in religions, and paid considerable attention to Islam. In early 1993, the guy married a young Moroccan woman and received the name Abdel Hakim.
1995: album Métèque et Mat
With the national success of IAM's single Je Danse Le Mia (1993), Marseille rappers became essential figures in French rap.
But at the same time, the group after a long tour suspended the activities of the musician.
Akhenaten seized the opportunity to release his first solo album in October 1995, partly recorded in Naples, the city where his family is from.
Métèque Et Mat is a very personal work in which the rapper's unique style can be heard. He wrote about a variety of things: about the mafia (La Cosca), about rebellion against the established system (Je Rêve D'éclate runty pedes Assedic), etc.
In addition, the song Une femme seule was inspired by his mother's life. This album quickly became a commercial success as sales exceeded 300 copies sold.
The release of the solo work did not arouse the rapper's desire to continue working in the IAM group, because Akhenaten was too reverent about the concept of "collective".
And he just suspended his personal development. The musician invested in production, created the Côté Obscur label and the La Cosca publishing house.
Akhenaten in cinematography
Akhenaten, together with his colleague Kheops, wrote the soundtrack to one of the most successful works of French cinema in 1998 - the film "Taxi" by Robert Pires, produced by Luc Besson.
In February 1999, they received the Victoire de la Musique award for Best Soundtrack of the Year.
But the main success of Akhenaten in the field of cinema was the film Comme un aimant. This is a fantastic film, which takes place in one of the districts of Marseille.
Akhenaten co-wrote the soundtrack with Bruno Kuleis, the author of the soundtrack for the film "Microcosmos".
Simultaneously with the development of this project, Akhenaten was working on an electronic music disc. Under his leadership, about 15 DJs and composers worked in one team.
The Electro Cypher album was released at the end of 2000. The work belongs to the electro-funk genre and was inspired by another work previously recorded by the German band Kraftwerk. The recording was also influenced by Zulu Nation by Afrika Bambaataa.
2001: Sol Invictus album
On June 19, Akhenaten re-emerged as a solo artist with the single AKH, heralding the album. The record was released in October 2001 by Sol Invictus ("The Invincible Sun").
Unlike the album Métèque Et Mat, which the musician wrote himself alone, on the album Sol Invictus you can hear Shurik'n, Chiens de Paille and Dadou from KDD.
The atmosphere of the album is nostalgic, with hints of disappointment. The focus is on the past, both thematically and in terms of 1980s style sound.
The retro style was present on at least 18 tracks on the album. The disc was released with a circulation of 175 thousand copies.
Album Black Album
A few months later, in November 2002, Akhenaten released the Black Album, consisting of songs written during the recording of the previous album.
But these songs were not included in the previous work due to their different sound. DVD Live At the Docks Des Suds released to market. The disc contains the only April performance in Marseille.
Since 2001, Akhenaten began to periodically work on the long-awaited new album from the group IAM. Thus, the musician rushed between New York, Paris and Marseille.
The album Revoir Un Printemps was released in September 2003, so the work of the leader of the group resumed in the team.
At the end of 2005, the rapper released the double album Double Chill Burger, which collected most of his solo work. There are also 8 unreleased tracks.
After the release of the IAM album and the subsequent tour, Akhenaten thought about the possibility of recording his new solo album. The album Soldats De Fortune was released in March 2006 on the independent label 361 Records.
All members of IAM were on the album, including Shurik'n, who is heard on the chorus of Sur les Murs De Ma Chambre.
The artist then took a break from his solo career to resume work with IAM on the occasion of the release of his fifth album, Season 5, which was released in 2007.
At the same time, the group celebrated its anniversary - 20 years since their inception. The musicians celebrated the occasion with a concert at the foot of the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt in March 2008.
2011: We Luv New York with Faf Larage
The following year, Akhenaten began collaborating with another rapper from Marseille, Faf Larage, whom he had known for a long time, as he was Shurik'n's brother.
The two guys started working together to pay tribute to the city of New York. According to them, this is the mythical city of hip-hop.
We Luv New York was a label-independent album released in March 2011, distributed online by Akhenaten's Me Label, a company formed a year ago.
In the process, Akhenaten and Faf Larage "promoted" their album on stage with a series of concerts throughout France.
In September 2011, the rapper began hosting a weekly radio program, Le Mouv, in which he shared the secrets of his musical career.
2014: album Je Suis En Vie
It was after two albums with IAM in 2013 that Akhenaten released their fifth solo opus, Je Suis En Vie, in the fall of 2014, this time on the Def Jam label.
The 46-year-old artist has shown maturity and wisdom in his compositions, inspired by the life of the samurai Musashi, the hero of Japanese literature.
Close friends and colleagues such as REDK, Shurik'n, Cut Killer and Faf Larage also appeared on several tracks on the album with harsh and combative lyrics.
This album received a very good critical and public reception. With Je suis en vie in February 2015, Akhenaten won the Best Urban Music Album of the Year category.
A few months later, we already see Akhenaten as a "historian" of hip-hop, since from April to July 2015 he organized the exhibition "Hip-hop from the Bronx to Arab streets" at the Paris Institute of Arts.
This time he acted as the artistic director. The main theme of the exhibition is the history of hip-hop, from its birth in New York to its emergence in the Arab countries.
At the same time, the rapper found himself at the center of controversy and gossip. The Coca-Cola Company has chosen a musician to lead the brand's new advertising campaign dedicated to the theme of happiness, called "Live Now".
Although all the money was donated to charities, many of his fans were highly critical of working with the multinational corporation.
Akhenaten defended himself in a lengthy text posted on social media in which he explained that the soda brand was one of the few companies to have taken the patronage of the exhibition featured in the IMA group.
