The blogosphere has been on fire since Sunday’s virtual resurrection of late rapper Tupac Shakur at the 12th annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California. Inbox was on-site at the festival to witness what will arguably go down as one of the most prolific and controversial moments in modern music history.
In the tradition of over-the-top closing performances by hip-hop heavyweights at Coachella—which included Jay-Z in 2010 and Kanye West last year—Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre took their already spectacular headlining set to exceptional heights. After 3 days under the hot desert sun and enduring a stampede of music aficionados making the most of the constant shows on the sprawling grounds, much of the crowd was a little dizzy and bleary by the time Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre took to the stage for the festival's closing show. But like true talents, they commanded the stage and brought the crowd to its feet as they effortlessly wove together their hits with the help of special guests that included Eminem and 50 Cent.
Midway through Snoop and Dre’s nostalgia-heavy set, the lights went down on a sea of 80,000 cheering fans and revealed the image of the late hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur to a stunned and eerily silenced crowd. The infamous rapper died 16 years ago after being shot 4 times in Las Vegas in 1996.
Initially reported as a 3D hologram, Tupac’s image was actually a stage trick that dates back to the 1800’s, whereby an angled slate of glass is placed on stage to reflect a projector image onto a screen. This first generation holographic technology has been used in movies such as X-Men: First Class. The holographic performance costs between $100,000 and $400,000, and was created by San Diego-based, AV Concepts.
It was rapper Dr. Dre who came up with the idea to create a 'hologram' of his dead friend, Tupac Shakur. Nick Smith, President of AV Concepts explains to MTV.com: “We worked with Dr. Dre on this. It was his idea from the very beginning and we worked with him and his camp to utilize the technology to make it come to life.”
Whether it was “cheesy” and “creepy” or “brilliant” and “show-stopping,” it can’t be argued that the Tupac ‘hologram’ has drawn significant attention and stirred a debate on how this technology will be used in the future to revive the careers of other late legends—and whether any of it is in good taste. With reports that the Tupac ‘hologram’ will go on tour with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg this summer, there is also speculation that a holographic Michael Jackson tour may soon materialize.
As Coachella gears up for its second weekend, the now-infamous rising of Tupac will no doubt be the big draw for a fresh horde of revelers.