Fonky Family () or La Fonky Family (often shortened to La Fonky, or La FF), is a
French hip hop
French hip hop or French rap (, ), is the hip hop music style developed in Francophonie, French-speaking countries. France is the second largest hip-hop market in the world after the United States.
History
Beginning of French hip hop: the 70s ...
band from
Marseille
Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...
, consisting of four
rappers
Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing b ...
, Le Rat Luciano, , and
Sat
The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and Test score, scoring have changed several times. For much of its history, it was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test ...
,
producer Pone,
DJ Djel,
dancer
Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
Blaze, singer
Karima,
Flex (fetus)
Nandell, and
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...
Fafa.
Fonky Family made their first appearance on the French hip hop scene in 1994, after
IAM had paved the way for new hip hop artists originating from Marseille. In 1995, they appeared in the song titled "Les Bad Boys de Marseille" on ', the first solo album by IAM's
Akhenaton
Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Akhenaton or Echnaton ( ''ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy'', , meaning 'Effective for the Aten'), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Before the ...
. Their first album, ', came out in 1997 and soon received a gold album. Karima left the group before the release of the album.
In 1998, the group were invited to collaborate with Akhenaton on the soundtrack of
Luc Besson
Luc Paul Maurice Besson (; born 18 March 1959) is a French filmmaker. He directed and produced the films '' Subway'' (1985), '' The Big Blue'' (1988), and '' La Femme Nikita'' (1990). Associated with the '' Cinéma du look'' film movement, he h ...
's film ''
Taxi
A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...
''. The film became a huge success and its soundtrack topped the French charts. After numerous collaborations with different members of IAM on their solo albums, the group released one EP record with six live and edited titles, titled ''Hors série volume 1'', in spring 1999. ''Hors série volume 2'' was released in 2000.
Their second album, ''
Art de rue'', came out in 2001. After that, many members of the group chose to pursue solo careers: Le Rat Luciano had already released a solo album in 2000, and Sat and Don Choa followed in 2001 and 2002 respectively. DJ Djel produced two compilations in 2001 and 2003.
In January 2006, Fonky Family released their third album ' (Jive/Sony BMG), which debuted on the French charts straight at number one.
Fonky Family have a global music publishing deal with
BMG Music Publishing.
Fonky Family's track "La Furie et la Foi" was used as the soundtrack for French skateboarder J. B. Gillet's part in the film ''Rodney Vs Daewon Round II''.
Lead members
Le Rat Luciano
Le Rat Luciano (; real name Christophe Carmona ; born 9 April 1976) is a
French rapper
Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...
from
Marseille
Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...
. His father is of
Spanish origin and his mother comes from
Martinique
Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...
. He got noticed as a rapper in 1994 when he was part of the group Fonky Family.
Sat l'Artificier
Sat l'Artificier or just Sat born Karim Haddouche in
Marseille
Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...
on September 16, 1975 in Marseille, France), is a French rapper of Algerian origin and is a member of the group Fonky Family. Born to an
Algeria
Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...
n father and
French mother of
Corsican descent, Sat discovered rap at an early age. In 1993, along with his neighborhood friends
Le Rat Luciano,
Don Choa and
Menzo, they created the group Fonky Family. After meeting with
IAM's
Akhenaton (rapper) they started working on their first album. Since then, the group has released 4 albums and are considered one of the biggest rap groups in
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
.
Discography
Albums
Live albums
EPs
Others
*2001: ''Si Dieu veut / Art de rue'' (Peak FR: #89)
*2002: ''Art de rue / Hors Serie Vol. 2'' (Peak FR: #135)
Singles
References
External links
Fonky Family– Official site
Fonky Familyat MCM.net
Fonky Family Biographyat Radio France International
{{Authority control
French hip-hop groups
Musical groups from Marseille
Rappers from Bouches-du-Rhône
1994 establishments in France