IAM (band)
| IAM | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Marseille, France |
| Genres |
French hip hop Hip hop |
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Labels | Côté Obscur, Hostile Records (France), Polydor, Virgin |
| Website | www |
| Members |
Philippe Fragione (Akhenaton) Geoffroy Mussard (Shurik'n Chang-Ti) Eric Mazel (Khéops) Pascal Perez (Imhotep) François Mendy (Kephren) |
IAM (pronounced as English "I am") is a French hip hop band from Marseille, formed in 1989, and composed of Akhenaton (Philippe Fragione), Shurik'n (Geoffroy Mussard), 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). Another meaning is Imperial Asiatic Man, while AKH often refers to L'homme Impérial Asiatique.
One of IAM’s central themes in its songs is Africa. The group is one of the pioneer French rap groups and draws heavily on allusions to Africa, and particularly to ancient Egypt, in its music. Their 1991 song "Les tam-tam de l'Afrique" was one of the first French rap hits and the first song to deal expressly with the issue of slavery [needs citation]. Using a sample of a Stevie Wonder song, "Les tam-tam de l'Afrique" focuses on the “abduction of its inhabitants, the Middle Passage, and the plantation system in the Americas.”
IAM promotes an ideology that is based upon images associated with ancient Egypt, primarily upon the mythical allusions to pharaohs. By 1989 the group developed a unique rap style, mixing French beats and lyrics with Middle Eastern and Egyptian influences. Their stage names are of Egyptian origin; one of the group members, Eric Mazel, goes by the name Kheops, an allusion to the Egyptian pharaoh who built pyramids. This connection with ancient Egypt allows IAM “to assert connections to the contemporary Arab world in an indirect way.”
Indeed, this "pharaoism", as French rap music specialist Andre Prevos calls it, represents an attempt to negotiate and maintain a cultural identity in the context of a social scene rife with racist and discriminatory ideologies. Because of the Islamophobic tendencies of much of white French society, references to Arabic origins and Islamic fundamentalism are part of a highly socially contested discourse on identity politics in French music. Thus, by employing 'pharaoism' to hide these references to and elicitations of the Arab world, IAM successfully articulates its connections with the "Franco-Maghrebi" cause and establishes an important social space for itself. The pharaoist aspects of IAM'S rap help the group stay in touch with its origins where some non-white French people have assimilated unquestioningly into the surrounding French culture. Therefore, the group's rap is both politically charged and defiant, as it attempts to subvert notions of racial superiority by "[proposing] multiracial alliance as an alternative to the 'old' [French] politics." Most importantly, rap provides IAM with a place to address social issues and speak out against racial intolerance where the group can actually be heard. In fact, the first single release from their second album, "Je danse le Mia", "went on to prove an enormous hit on the French mainstream", according to French radio station RFI Musique. In this way, the use of 'pharaoism' as a mystical and coded strategy for the injection of Arabic and Egyptian lyrics, ideas, and sentiments into the music is what makes it commercially viable. Otherwise, if the music were any more outright in its references to Arabic origins, white French conservatives might identify it with Islamic Fundamentalism's grips over North African diasporatic communities living in France and try to censor it and impede the cause it stands for.
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Wikipedia