If there's one thing Non Phixion has taught me, it's that there's a fine line between the incendiary and the utterly ridiculous. When I first heard their 12-inch "I Shot Reagan" in 1998, I thought they were the heirs to Public Enemy's agitprop hip-hop throne. 2000's "Black Helicopters," with its dark, claustrophobic production and Ill Bill's proclamation that "American taught me how to kidnap and torture cats" further whetted my appetite for the first incarnation of The Future Is Now, which was scheduled to be released later that year on Matador. So when the word on the street, or at least speculation via Non Phixion fans, said that Matador dropped them due to the extremism of their politics, I shook my head and cursed those bullfighting cowards. It seemed as though Non Phixion would join the long line of hip-hop artists whose albums were buried before ever seeing the light of day.
Now, as I'm listening to the 2002 version of The Future Is Now, I'm beginning to wish that it had never been released, and I'm starting to think that the heads at Matador were just more discerning than fraidycat. Instead of the scathing socio-political critique I'd expected, Non Phixion has released an album that is perhaps the first example of inadvertent post-apocalyptic Marxist kitsch. It sounds as though somewhere along the way Non Phixion mastermind Ill Bill pawned his Chomsky books for baggies of cocaine and began drifting thematically closer to the crackhead comic relief of Flavor Flav than to the anti-capitalist stance of Chuck D.
Even the titles are contradictory, corny, and unimaginative: The Future Is Now, "Futurama" (where "cyborgs will kill your mamma!"), "There Is No Future," and "We Are the Future." And the lyrics are even more so: "Jews, Muslims, Christians/ What the fuck's the difference?/ We all want money, drugs and bitches/ Anybody that doesn't rubs me suspicious." I'm trying not to say that political dissent has to be intellectually polished, and I'm certainly not trying to be some moral watchdog, but when lines like this are spewed by some snarling, white emcee mugging for the camera with a shotgun, I have to question not only his intelligence, but also his initial motivation for adopting a political stance. Perhaps in their quest to be the perpetually fashionable, anti-everything group of the month, Non Phixion merely adopted some of the more sensationalistic rhetoric of political radicalism.
It really is a shame that Non Phixion comes across as being so juvenile. Technically, Ill Bill and Sabec Red are decent emcees; they stay on the beat and their flows are effective. The album is loaded with great production work by the likes of Pete Rock, Large Professor, and Necro. DJ Premier's "Rock Star" even boasts the best Primo track since the last Gang Starr album. But you can't escape the weak subject matter, the pointless misogyny, and the sheer stupidity of the lyrics. Perhaps hip-hop's recent turn towards complexity has me a bit spoiled, but I can't imagine that it would've made a difference when this album was released; The Future Is Now is a regressive and reactionary statement, regardless of the year.
