Review Summary: The Dark Side of the Future
When 9/11 happened, it revealed an until-then unsuspected aspect of our modern world. Namely, it showed that, the same way that American media can reach and influence the rest of the world, and in which Chinese goods can flood Western markets, so can funds with an unclear foreign origin sponsor and wreak terrible acts of destruction upon faraway lands.
This event was a brutal awakening from the post-Cold-War world's generally optimistic mood. That more peaceful, more advanced, more understanding and global world, had suddenly been stained and had fallen victim to its newfound freedoms and openness.
When Non Phixion broadcast their mantras "There is no future... the future is NOW!" and "We are the future.", they seem to point out how this present mutual instant interconnectedness between...
everything has suddenly shifted the perspective on how civilization's progress occurs from now on. We're currently in an age where a President can be memed into power at the propagation of internet clicks and media content, and a deadly terror act can be set in motion at the ka-ching of a bank transfer. Within such a mode of reality, where the flow of information is an influential currency, it is difficult for one to ground oneself firmly and sincerely in a concrete set of beliefs. Uncertainty dominates, and in the absence of said firm and unifying intersocietal arrangements, it seems easy for a careless wave of the hand of someone's overblown ego, or the release of an unfounded rumour which successfully proceeds to gain traction, to alter reality in a far-reaching, and devastating way;
"Welcome to Futurama! A cross between Terminator 3 and Tutankhamen!" raps Ill Bill in the chorus of Futurama, presenting two potential scenarios for what is to come: Dystopian technofuture on the one hand and a return to ancient times on the other.
In light of recent events across the Western world, it's probably more true that this morass of uncertainty has only been sunk into further, rather than escaped. Who knows...
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I like to think that there's two albums in The Future is Now.
One is obviously the musical side: The insanely clever, deranged, subversive, even epic, beats and samples complemented by the slick, aggressive or agitated rapping.
The other "album" within the album is the... how do I put it... word salad of the lyrics. You see most of the time, the respective songs' lyrics don't convey a specific narrative, but are rather a
dump of information. You'll find references to all types of Heroes and Arts: From mythical ones, taken out of tales from ancient religious scriptures, to historical figures, to 20th century pop-culture and underground phenomenons, to ghetto champions, to present and future technology, which might be called a God in itself.
So, have Wikipedia at the ready, as the lyrics could be a great potential source of intellectual and cultural enrichment. Now, this trove of knowledge could either burden you and paralyze you, or free you and give you a direction. The choice is yours.
