From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

IAM
Origin	Marseille, France
Genre(s)	French hip hop Hip hop Rap
Years active	1989–present
Label(s)	Côté Obscur, Hostile Records (France), Polydor, Virgin
Website	Official website
Members
Philippe Fragione Geoffroy Mussard Malek Brahimi Eric Mazel Pascal Perez François Mendy

IAM is a French hip hop band from Marseille, created in 1989, and composed of Akhenaton (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.

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 platinum 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 released its brand new album Saison 5, in April 2007.

• 1990 IAM Concept
• 1991 ...de la planète Mars
• 1993-94 Ombre est lumière
• 1997 L'école du micro d'argent
• 1998 Taxi OST
• 2004 Revoir un printemps
• 2007 Saison 5

• 1991 "Red, Black & Green"
• 1991 "Tam-tam de l'Afrique"
• 1992 "Planète Mars"
• 1993 "Donne-moi le micro"
• 1994 "Le feu"
• 1994 "Je danse le mia"
• 1995 "Une femme seule / Sachet blanc"
• 1997 "L'école du micro d'argent"
• 1997 "Nés sous la même étoile"
• 1997 "L'empire du Côte Obscur"
• 1997 "La saga" (featuring Timbo King, Dreddy Krueger and Prodigal Sunn)
• 1998 "Independenza"
• 1998 "Petit frère"
• 2003 "Revoir un printemps"
• 2004 "Noble art" (featuring Method Man and Redman)
• 2004 "Second souffle"
• 2004 "Où va la vie" (featuring Moïse)
• 2007 "Une autre brique dans le mur"
• 2007 "Ca vient de la rue"

This article does not cite any references or sources. (April 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

• Official IAM Website
• IAM STYLE
• IAM Concept