The year is 2047. Practically all consumer products and even rent inside of US coastal cities is redeemed exclusively by non-fungible tokens (NFTs). All NFTs are issued and controlled by the same names every consumer has grown to love over the last century: Apple, Amazon, Google, and the newly-formed Microsoft-Facebook. All political voting transitioned to the popular vote, favoring the so-called "coastal elites" and effectively nullifying the voice of "fly-over states" following a controversial string of events kicked off 25-years prior by former President, now Microsoft-Facebook CEO, Kamala Harris. Conservatives cried "fascism!" on Facebook until anyone meeting vague criteria had their NFTs removed from the blackchain, permanently freezing their technological development. The US still operates under the guise of "freedom," and a common argument still heard today goes something like, "you have freedom of speech, just not on our platform," and the since-repurposed "Capitalism for thee, not for me!" that previously pitted "big banks" against the people now pits "coastal elites" against the comparably hedonistic "flyovers," still forced to use the forever-inflating USD. Some say there are still "flyovers" alive today that aren't chipped and believe in a common conspiracy that involves the so-called existence of a country named "China." Legislation is in the works to get this addressed and fully corrected by 2050.
On a brighter note, after HKE's string of "30 albums in 12 months" began in 2021, his notoriety exploded in similar fashion to the 2022-2023 ETH to USD chart, not that USD matters much these days. He has consistently released 3 to 4 albums a month to much fanfare, but not without controversy; at least once a year, a scandal breaks that HKE may have actually used a slowed-down 1990s sample, a technique he swore off many decades ago. Not all is well in "dream land," however; after a wave of poor business and financial advice from hucksters, Shima33, a co-owner of the legendary Dream Catalogue record label, landed broke and homeless before "overdosing on raving [sic]" and beginning his stay in an undisclosed asylum. Photos of his face digitally edited onto the vintage "Arkham Asylum" game cover for an extinct GameStation model make the rounds on the various "deep web" image boards.
In 2033, to celebrate "t w e n t y y e a r s o f t e l e p a t h," t e l e p a t h released a song totaling 175,000 hours, or approximately 20 full years in length. That same year, an avid fan spent his 2 bitcoins on enough NFTs to support himself for a lifetime dedicated the remainder of his life to listening to t e l e p a t h's 20-year song, unfortunately falling significantly short after he passed away peacefully in his sleep earlier this year. The lore on the various vapor-inspired message boards is that the song "affected his brainwaves or smth [sic]." It is still unknown exactly how far this fan got into the song; it had been delivered on several pallets full of the long-defunct "60-minute MiniDiscs," though police have repeatedly told the press that every "MD" at the scene was still sealed, and that the fan did not appear to own a MiniDisc player.