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

. 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

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 Family
at MCM.net
Fonky Family Biography
at Radio France International {{Authority control French hip-hop groups Musical groups from Marseille Rappers from Bouches-du-Rhône 1994 establishments in France