Akhenaton — Métèque et mat

Debut studio album by Philippe "Akhenaton" Fagione, French rapper born in Marseille by a family of Italian origins, that choose as a moniker the name of the Egyptian pharaoh. Passionate about soccer, growing up he approached hip-hop through break-dancing after taking a journey to New York. After being the founder and one of the main rapper of the seminal group IAM, in 1995 Akhenaton starts a career as a solo artist. The production is handled by Akh and Nicholas Sansano, while there's only a guest, Fonky Family.

During 1993, while mixing the album of his group IAM "Ombre est Lumière" in New York, the rapper realizes that he has several unused lyrics. After consulting with his group, he gets the go-ahead to try to make a solo project, however, he's initially hindered by the head of his group's record label, Delabel, who is in turn convinced by the executives of Delabel to allow this solo project of Akhenaton. The emcee writes other lyrics, makes the music and records and mixes the entire album between Naples and Capri.

The record is conceived as a introspective biography in which the emcee retraces his childhood in Marseille, his roots, his faith, his tastes, building a personal and open effort. The disk is recorded in Italy, because the emcee is of Neapolitan origins and is tied to the land, pouring musical tributes to Italy and Naples: for example, in the track "L'americano" the Marseille emcee pays homage directly to the iconic hit "Tu vuò fà l'americano" by Renato Carosone. As in the best Italian tradition and in particular in southern Italy, he provides narratives that are sometimes tragic, sometimes comic, often dramatic. The boy represents his roots and his city, which plays a central role in this album, describing stories of the streets, violence, prison, mythology, mysticism, racism, with scattered humorous excerpts, bringing out lyrics closer to socio-conscious themes than political ones.

Akhenaton arrives with one of the best performances ever in French hip-hop both in terms of writing lyrics and in terms of rapping execution, clean, fluid, clear, flowing, punctual. The boom bap production with touches of soul and jazz is gorgeous, clean, crisp, spectacular, the East Coast inspired rhythms are suited to Akhenaton's rapping style which flows fluidly throughout the set. Released in October 1995, it was received lukewarmly by critics and the public, even the singles didn't find favor. After recording remixes of "Bad Boys de Marseille" in New York in 1996, accompanied by music videos, the album sales began to pick up. In retrospect, the project is considered a masterpiece and one of the best works in French rap. 8.5/10.