Non Phixion

Non Phixion (pronounced non-fiction) was a New York-based hardcore hip-hop group.

History

In late 1994, MC Serch (of 3rd Bass fame) took his protégé Sabac and teamed him up with DJ Eclipse and Ill Bill (La Coka Nostra / Heavy Metal Kings), thereby creating the group known as Non Phixion.^[1] Within six months Goretex, a childhood friend of Ill Bill, had joined the crew after freestyling for MC Serch.^[1][2] Six months later they had released their first single, "Legacy". It went on to sell over 20,000 copies worldwide.^[3]

NYC 1998

MC Serch secured the group a deal with major label Geffen Records. Serch kept releasing singles for the group and they continued to garner underground notoriety.^[4] Eventually a series of mis-communications between the group, Serch and Geffen over the whereabouts of money led to Non Phixion being dropped by the label.^[4]

Following their attempt at a major label release, the members of Non Phixion spent their time performing live in New York and around the world; opening for contemporaries such as Gang Starr, The Beatnuts and The Roots.^[3] After 1998 saw the release of their "I Shot Reagan" 12" on Uncle Howie Records, Non Phixion secured a deal for a full-length with Matador Records, however, this never came to fruition. Around 2000, Rick Rubin was attempting to bring Non Phixion to Warner Bros. and executive produce their record, but this too never materialized and ultimately their debut LP The Future Is Now was released on Ill Bill's own Uncle Howie Records on March 26, 2002.^[3][5]

After the release of their seminal album, Non Phixion's members put out their first round of solo material: Ill Bill released What's Wrong with Bill?, on March 2, 2004; this was followed by Sabac’s Sabacolypse: A Change Gon' Come on June 15, 2004 and Goretex’s The Art of Dying on September 7, 2004; all of their solo efforts were released on Necro's Psycho+Logical-Records. The following year, Ill Bill and Goretex released an album with Necro and Mr. Hyde as The Circle of Tyrants on September 13. At the time there was talk of another full length Non Phixion album, called The Nuclear Truth, with the same producers and ideas being extended from The Future Is Now.^[6] Non Phixion went on indefinite hiatus in 2006 before a second LP was finished. Goretex (G Blasphemy, Gore Elohim) left to develop his new project Supercoven and Children Of Doom<ref name="SMN News Goretex Interview"/N He now goes by Gore Elohim and is about to drop his first record titled Electric Lucifer. Sabac Red moved to Oakland to likewise pursue solo efforts. He is now Ill Bill started a new group with a number of other emcees called La Coka Nostra. Ill Bill, Sabac Red and DJ Eclipse still often perform together, but they have not recorded as Non Phixion.^[7]

MC Serch did not appear in Non Phixions first album "The Future Is Now".^[8] Non Phixion made two studio albums and a promotional tape named "The Past, The Present And The Future Is Now"^[9] that was released before their first album "The Future Is Now",^[8] all Non Phixion's work is highly regarded in the underground hip hop scene. Ill Bills brother Necro produced a lot of material for Non Phixion, including most of "The Past, The Present And The Future Is Now"^[9] and several other tracks from "The Green CD"^[10] and "The Future Is Now".^[8][11]

Ill Bill

The band's logo was created by Michel "Away" Langevin using the same font style that was used for his own futuristic metal band, Voivod.^[12]

The group disbanded in 2006.

Fast forward to October 2014 ( Re-union ):

"So, here’s the scene…2,000-strong are packed into the Best Buy Theater in Times Square for Cypress Hill’s annual Haunted Hill shindig to put it in the air for one of the strongest top-to-bottom hip hop line-ups in New York City in a long, long time: Cypress Hill with Vinnie Paz, Immortal Technique, and La Coka Nostra. Vinnie kills it! Immortal tears it up, and La Coka blows the place up for 20 or so minutes. Then—unbeknownst to the heads in attendance, and just moments after emcee extraordinaire ILL BILL asks the crowd if they’ve got love for the storied and sadly defunct outfit Non Phixion (whose material LCN regularly performs)—as if shot from a cannon, all four original members of the city’s own Non Phixion explode from the wings and burst into their classic joint “Rock Stars.” Sabac Red, DJ Eclipse, Goretex, and ILL BILL are back, and apparently, it’s for real."^[13]

Hamburg/Germany 2003

Discography

Albums

• The Future Is Now (Uncle Howie, 2002)
• The Green CD/DVD (Uncle Howie, 2004)
• The Nuclear Truth (never released)

Singles

References