IAM

About

The first French rap group to release an album, IAM have mixed rage and intelligence throughout a discography that spans three decades, all the while constantly discovering new dimensions to assure hip-hop heads in their home country that there is no need to envy the U.S. The group has roots in hip-hop's birthplace that date back to the early '80s, when founding member Philippe Fragione (aka Chill, later Akhenaton) started making trips to New York City, during which he networked with several rap artists. The visits culminated in Fragione's featured spot on Choice MC's 1988 track "This Is the B Side," released on the Idlers label. By that point, Fragione had also been active in Marseille with Eric Mazel (DJ Khéops) and Geoffroy Mussard (Jo, later Shurik'n), and when he returned there, the trio were eventually joined by producer Pascal Perez (Imhotep) and MCs François Mendy (Kephren) and Malek Brahimi (Freeman). The crew became IAM ("I am"), an acronym for Imperial Asiatic Men and Invasion Arrivée de Mars, among other phrases.