Philippe Fragione was born on September 17, 1968 in the 13th arrondissement of Marseille. Coming from a family of Italian immigrants from Naples, young Philippe and his brother Fabien live in the suburbs of Marseille with their mother, an EDF employee. After a stay with his father's family living in New York in 1982, Philippe discovered rap. From that day on, his outlook on life changed completely. He will abandon his studies in the first year of DEUG in biology. His first recording appearance is on the title This Is The B Side, B side of the vinyl Let's Make Some Noise by Choice MC's recorded in Brooklyn in 1988, making it the first Franco-American rap featuring. Back in Marseille, his meetings with Shurik'n, Kheops and Imothep led to the creation of the group. IAM, and in 1989 they released the self-produced cassette "Concept". In 1991, the first studio album of the group De La Planète Mars was released, the success was such that many would affirm that the IAM group was 5 years ahead of the competition. Akhenaton converted to Islam in 1993, shortly before his marriage to Aïcha, thus becoming Abdel Hakim.