R.O.S.H. Interview with HaleeB3 Corp

Photo of HaleeB3 Corp by Violet Tong. Instagram: @violetblue.art

“Down with [REDACTED]! Down with [REDACTED]!” That was the first thing I heard as I headed to the apartment I was about to give a speech at on the 204th floor of Club Prayala.
It’s a place usually devoid of this sort of ruckus. By the building’s very nature it makes it impossible for those who don’t have access to the higher floors: the poor; the delinquent; the counter-cultural; the socially aware; the kind of people who refuse to accept and participate in the system of capitalism as it was in 25th century. In simpler terms, a protester was the last thing I’d expect to see this high up, among the suits – the anonymous businesspeople that operated between the apartments and floors in the “Crown” section of the club, far above the dancefloor.

It was my first encounter with HaleeB3 Corp, the lone protester outside the apartment I was about to give a speech at. I wondered if they were protesting me, but they had no idea I was giving a talk. What irked them so was the company I was talking too. [REDACTED] was going to be present, the CEO of [REDACTED] and also HaleeB3 Corp’s father. They didn’t really seem happy to talk to me till I explained my secret, that I was trying to exploit the people inside, then HaleeB3’s eyes lit up and we agreed to meet later that evening. That’s when I heard not just the politics but sound of HaleeB3 Corps protest. We bonded over our shared interest in the redistribution of wealth and weighty techno, which is when they showed me “Block Block”.

I sat down with HaleeB3 Corp to talk about the role of their fathers company in the environment today, music as protest form and how to let it all out.

R.O.S.H.: Welcome, welcome. It’s good to see you, how are you finding your short stay in the 21st century?

HaleeB3 Corp: The airs much cleaner. I feel like I can really breath you know. Get some real air in my lungs.

R.O.S.H.: I know we’re not really in the city now but I always thought it was still pretty bad. That’s kind of terrifying to hear actually. I take it things don’t get better then.

HaleeB3 Corp: Oh I wish you knew. I think at this stage of history you’re just getting over the “every little helps” and individual responsibility stage.

R.O.S.H.: Are you saying that the attempts to become a greener individual by say… flying to Greece on holiday and getting upset they’re still using plastic straws doesn’t help?
HaleeB3 Corp: I mean you’re almost there. I’m assuming you were being sarcastic.

R.O.S.H.: I was not.

HaleeB3 Corp: Oh dear. You’ve got to understand that the narrative that you can save the world by an already privileged few taking the same plastic bag to the shop instead of buying a new one is ludicrous. The US Navy dumps tons of fuel into the sea just to keep their expenditure up so it doesn’t get cut by the most short-sighted budgetary policy ever created.

R.O.S.H.: I think I understand, but I’m still not sure. Are you saying that I shouldn’t bring a plastic bag to the shops? Because that happens all the time, I always forget.

HaleeB3 Corp: No, I’m saying that along with individual awareness and change needs to come a greater awareness of the structural issues that prevent us for making any real progress.

R.O.S.H.: Right… right… I get you. Like asking a multinational coffee conglomerate to switch to corn starch for their cups.

HaleeB3 Corp: What! No. Oh god, you just don’t get it do you? No wonder we’re still in this mess 3 centuries later.

R.O.S.H.: No, clearly I don’t. Well you’re a smart one and you’re genuinely active in that… err… scene?

HaleeB3 Corp: I don’t think the conservation of our environment should be something limited to the interests of only a few of its inhabitants.

R.O.S.H.: Right, right, so what happens after the waters keep rising.

HaleeB3 Corp: It’s too depressing to talk about. Something else please.

R.O.S.H.: So your fathers company [REDACTED] is still extracting oil 300 years later. I was lead to believe that there wasn’t enough oil left to last that long.

HaleeB3 Corp: There wasn’t. All the original stuff, the kind that took millions of years of pants and dinosaur matter to be squeezed and super heated through time is gone. Now their using a really inefficient method to make oil from… let’s say… more recently deceased organic matter.

R.O.S.H.: I think I see where this dark road goes, and I don’t want to go down it. So how about we move on to your music. It’s high energy, atmospheric and I noticed ‘Block Block’ includes a horse sample which is interesting because I used a horse sample in a similar way on a track that came out this year actually.

HaleeB3 Corp: You gotta get the horse sound in there. They’re incredible animals. Something about watching them gives me this real connection to nature, to the earth.

R.O.S.H.: I think I’ve seen them before once. On an advert or something.

HaleeB3 Corp: One of my dad’s properties had a horse ranch, out in Nebraska, overlooking the Great Midwest Divider river. One of the first acts of protests I remember doing was letting them free. I’ve been a pain in the ass to him ever since.

R.O.S.H.: Do you think music can be a form of protest?

HaleeB3 Corp: I don’t know. I’d like to think it is but I know dance music has a problem of not being political without a lot of set dressing you know. Like the titles of the tracks or the press release you send out, or the artwork. Without any of those things, going in blind, I think something as complicated as politics is difficult to “talk about” in a medium that doesn’t really have a lot of talking. I guess it’s more of a creative release for me.

R.O.S.H.: A way to let it all out, given how frustrating it must be to know all the exploits of [REDACTED] and only able to do so much.

HaleeB3 Corp: That’s exactly it. When you saw me protesting alone it was because my dad recently got my access reduced to minor privileges which means I couldn’t get any of my friends from the lower floors or dance floor into the up elevators anymore. I tried, but there’s only so many times you can take being incapacitated by an over-zealous elevator AI security system.

R.O.S.H.: You’re telling me!

HaleeB3 Corp: I like to think I’m karma for all the shit he’s done to the planet. This thing he thought he wanted, I don’t know because he got bored or maybe wanted an heir or something. Instead of some obedient, grateful posh nonce, he got me.

R.O.S.H.: If you don’t mind me asking… what about your mother? What’s her role?

HaleeB3 Corp: I forget you’re a natural born. I don’t have a mother, I was grown in an AAAS.

R.O.S.H.: You were grown in a what?

HaleeB3 Corp: In an AAAS. It stands for Accelerated Artificial Amniotic Sac. Most people are grown in those now, it’s way safer.

R.O.S.H.: Oh I see! For a moment I thought you meant… You know what never mind. This conversation has been incredibly enlightening. If there was one thing you could say to the 21st century audience reading this, what would it be?

HaleeB3 Corp: Fuck [REDACTED]!