IAM (band)
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IAM is a French hip hop band from Marseille, created in 1989, and composed of Akhenaton (real name Philippe Fragione), Shurik'n (Geoffroy Mussard), Freeman (Malek Brahimi), Khéops (Eric Mazel), Imhotep (Pascal Perez), and Kephren (François Mendy). 'IAM' has several meanings, including 'Invasion Arrivée de Mars' ('Invasion from Mars'). 'Mars' is frequently used as a metaphor for Marseille in IAM's songs.
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[edit] History
The band was formed in late 1985 by Akhenaton and Khéops, under the name Lively Crew. Lively Crew became B.Boys Stance in the summer of 1987, after which it was joined by Shurik'n, Freeman and Imhotep. In 1989 the group was renamed IAM, and they produced their first album, IAM Concept which was released the following year. They signed a contract with Virgin Records, and went on to publish the album ...de la planète Mars (1991), which became a major hit in France. In 1993 they released another album titled "Ombre est lumière" that helped the band to grow in popularity. However, IAM's big break did not come until their 1997 album L'école du micro d'argent, which took only two days to become a gold album in France and eventually sold over a million copies, becoming a diamond album. L'école du micro d'argent also brought the group some international fame. They also performed at Reading festival in England which increased not only their own popularity but that of French Hip Hop in England.
After the massively successful 1997 album, members of the group began to pursue solo careers. Akhenaton had already produced his first solo album, Métèque et mat, in 1995, and he was followed by Shurik'n and Freeman with albums in 1998 and 1999 respectively. Most members of the band now started to work on other projects of their own as well, such as Akhenaton's 2000 film Comme un aimant and two solo albums "Sol Invictus" (2001) and "Soldat de fortune" (2006). However, the group remained intact, writing tracks for their album Revoir un printemps, completed in 2003. The group is now spending time in studios to complete their sixth album that should come out in mid-2007.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- 2007 Saison 5 (April, 2nd)
- 2004 Revoir un printemps
- 1998 Taxi OST
- 1997 L'école du micro d'argent
- 1993-94 Ombre est lumière
- 1991 ...de la planète Mars
- 1990 IAM Concept
[edit] Singles
- 2007 Une autre brique dans le mur
- 2004 Où va la vie (featuring Moïse)
- 2004 Second souffle
- 2004 Noble art (featuring Method Man and Redman)
- 2003 Revoir un printemps
- 1998 Petit frère
- 1998 Independenza
- 1997 La saga (featuring Timbo King, Dreddy Krueger and Prodigal Sunn)
- 1997 L'empire du Côte Obscur
- 1997 Nés sous la même étoile
- 1997 L'école du micro d'argent
- 1995 Une femme seule / Sachet blanc
- 1994 Je danse le mia
- 1994 Le feu
- 1993 Donne-moi le micro
- 1992 Planète Mars
- 1991 Tam-tam de l'Afrique
- 1991 Red, Black & Green
