The French hip-hop group IAM was formed in 1989 by the trio of Akhenaton (Philippe Fragione), DJ Khéops (Eric Mazel) and Jo (Geoffroy Mussard). The group expanded to a sextet with the addition of Imhotep (Pascal Perez), Kephren (François Mendy) and Freeman (Malek Brahimi). IAM debuted in 1991 with the album De la Planéte Mars. The sophomore set Ombre Est Lumiére became quite a big hit in their native land (eventually released in the U.S. as well), and the group stayed strong with 1995's Métèque et Mat and 1997's L'Ecole du Micro D'Argent.