Akhenaton

July 4 - July 11, 1 9 9 6
[Off the Record]

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**** Akhenaton

MÉTÈQUE ET MAT

(Delabel, France/World Music Distribution, US)

One listen to Akhenaton's first solo CD and you'll understand why it was voted rap CD of the year in France in 1995. Not since L.L. Cool J mattered has a mike man worked so much power, truth, and scrawny vulnerability into a rap. Not since Eric B & Rakim and Public Enemy created hip-hop sampling have rap producers dreamt up sound collages as dark, dry, and melodic as the broken-field glides and massive syncopations of Nicholas Sansano and Dan Wood. Akhenaton is one-half of the rap duet that fronts IAM, France's most popular rap group; and yes, IAM's two CDs bristle with the kind of dark beats, Arabic tuning, Hendrixish feedback, and harshly honest rap that move Métèque et mat.

Akhenaton (real name: Philippe Fragione) recounts the story of his family's immigrating from Calabria to the slums of Marseille. "Pro-Latinity is my role, not surprising coming from a Neapolitan of Spanish origin," he tells us in the CD's title rap, in which he later says, "I'm one of those who Hitler called `the niggers of Europe.' " He and his buddies battle with bureaucrats ("Éclater un type des Assedic"), lose hope ("Au fond d'une contrée"), and fight ("La face B") and die uselessly at the hands of racism ("Un brin de haine"). Forget all about US gangsta rap's gratuitous posing; this CD is the real thing.

-- Michael Freedberg