My latest piece about music and multiculturalism, this time in France:
TMR 8 • Marseille
IAM, Marseille’s Original Hip Hop Collective
The original Marseille rap collective IAM.
Melissa Chemam
Who in France did not dance the “Mia” in 1994? The track on the second album of IAM’s Ombre est lumière made this collective of rappers and breakdancers from Marseille — absolute fans of New York rap — known throughout the country. If IAM remains little known to the English-speaking public, it nevertheless reflects the incredible journey of French rap, and the unexpected appearance of Marseille on the cultural map.
“Mia” was a dance explosion but also the chronicle of a city that until then had only made rare appearances on French television, almost always on the nightly news. The song invaded the French media space with a video clip directed by the filmmaker Michel Gondry, who worked at the time with the biggest stars of music, from Björk to Massive Attack.
“In the early 80’s, I remember the parties / Where the atmosphere was hot and the guys would come in / Stan Smith on their feet, looking cold”
rapper Akhenaton, whose real name is Philippe Fragione, intones: “They scanned the room with the three-quarter leather rolled around their arm,” all over a sample of George Benson’s “Give Me the Night”, released in 1980, slowed down and covered with hip-hop pulses.
“This song eludes all known musical references,” wrote Jean-Marie Jacono in the popular music magazine Volume! in 2004. “It’s neither a typical rap song nor a dance song, even if it evokes the parties of the Marseille nightclubs of the 1980s.”
It propelled the rap group — still a relatively underground genre in France in 1993/94 — to the forefront – a first for a group from Marseille. “’Je danse le mia’ was revenge, not only for Marseille, but for the whole of France on Paris,” says music journalist Rebecca Manzoni, of the national radio station France Inter.
But the way was long before leading to this small jewel of French rap...
The origins: a sound exploration from the Planet Mars
To understand this unexpected path, we have to go back to 1985, when the young Philippe Fragione and Eric Mazel join the team of “Vibrationn”, a program created by Philippe Subrini on Radio Sprint. They formed a first group in 1986 called Lively Crew, very inspired by New York rap, which included five members called Akhenaton, DJ Kheops, Nasty Mister Bollocks, MCP One and Studio.
They gave their first concert in March 1986 in the 7th district of Marseille, in a festival of reggae upon the invitation of Massilia Sound System, a group of Occitan expression founded in 1984. The following year, Akhenaton and Kheops left to spend the summer in New York, where they hunted for records. The sounds that inspired them were those of Kool G Rap, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Wutang Clan, Run DMC.
Back in Marseille, Akhenaton and Kheops join Shurik ‘n and Kephren of the group B-Boy Stance and in 1988 take the name IAM, acronym of Imperial Asiatic Man. The group was inspired by Asian and Egyptian mythology and popular cinema. Two other members joined them in 1989: Imhotep and Freeman. All of them, except one, have taken the names of pharaohs: Akhenaton, Cheops, Imhotep and Kephren.
The group toured France, then recorded a first album entitled De La Planète Mars, which was released in March 1991. IAM claimed its Marseille heritage and considered it a "full-scale attack from the planet Mars.” The album went gold a few years after its release.
They also add North African rhythms and instruments.
And their storytelling rap evokes the proximity of the city of Marseille to the African continent.
“Even if the group remains musically very New York,” explains music critic Bertrand Dicale, “it is from the beginning very creative, with reggae influences, a claimed ethnic diversity — it brings together an Italian, a Comorian/Malagasy, an Algerian, Muslims and a ‘Frenchman’. In this, they are deeply Marseillais. But at the same time, the group rejects clichés: with Shurik’n and Akhenaton, you don’t hear local stereotypes about pastis, creeks, sunshine...”
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To read the entire piece - and listen to the mentioned songs! go to The Markaz' website here.
The story can also be read in French here.
The whole issue, nb#8, dedicated to the city of Marseille here.
Enjoy! and Viva Marseille
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