View article

Akhenaton, rapper and chief spokesperson for Marseille rap group IAM, 29 was born Philippe Fragione, son of immigrants from the region of Calabria in South Italy, who settled in Marseille. When IAM burst onto the French rap scene30 with its 1991 release... De la Planète Mars, one of its most notable features was what André Prévos dubs its" pharaohism." Four of the group's six members go by ancient Egyptian names (Imhotep, DJ Kheops, Divin Kephren, and of course Akhenaton), and IAM's lyrics are full of references to ancient Egyptian civilization. Prévos argues astutely that" pharaohism" permitted IAM to assert connections to the contemporary Arab world in an indirect, coded way:" The concept [of pharaohism] underlines Arabic origins while bypassing negative representations of North African countries gripped by Islamic fundamentalism and economic uncertainties"(1996: 721). 31 The jacket of IAM's enormously successful second CD (L'ombre est lumière, 1993) 32 even asserts that in ancient times, Egypt was connected to Marseille, but the continents subsequently drifted apart. I would take issue, however, with Prévos's claim that IAM's" pharaohism" is an original development that demonstrates French rap's growing independence from US hip-hop hegemony (Prévos 1996: 719, 721-722). According to Akhenaton, the name IAM (standing for Imperial Asiatic Men) 33 was chosen after he read