The legendary rapper “Tupac” appeared in a shockingly realistic Hologram image to perform “Come With me” and “Gangsta Party” with Snoop Dogg, 40, at the star-packed Coachella music festival in Indio, Calif.
Dre and Snoop Dogg brought the hologram of Tupac onstage at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Sunday (April 15) and the pair are reportedly thinking of taking the recreation out on the road. Holographic projection firm Musion hinted that its creation could end up going around the world after making its debut in California on Sunday. This follows reports earlier today that Dre and Snoop are keen on the idea of a tour with the hologram.
The duet between Snoop Dogg and a hologram of his fellow hip-hop artist Tupac, who was gunned down in 1996, stunned music fans at Coachella. The video of the performance (below) has subsequently stunned YouTube users.
The footage shows Tupac giving a shout out to the Coachella crowd before going into a performance of Hail Mary, a song that Tupac never performed live and was only released after his death. Tupac, interacting with Snoop Dogg, then segues into Come With Me and Gangsta Party before disappearing into the ether.
The performance has amazed viewers. British rapper Lethal Bizzle took to Twitter to call it “incredible”, while Katy Perry tweeted: “I think I might have cried when I saw Tupac.”
My problem with the Tupac hologram is not with the actual appearance of the ghostly visage; AV Concepts, who engineered the rapper’s likeness, deserves kudos for getting as close to the real thing as possible. Nor does it involve the moral implications of resurrecting a long-dead artist in hologram form — although it’s understandable why a lot of people could be terrified by what it means. If Tupac can make an appearance with Dre and Snoop at Coachella, why can’t John Lennon stop by a Paul McCartney show, or Kurt Cobain perform on a *shudder* Hologram Nirvana tour? Maybe the future of live music isn’t live at all, but in many ways, the trend has already begun. After all, Cirque du Soleil is currently presenting Michael Jackson‘s music to sold-out shows, Sublime reformed and toured behind their classic songs with a singer that sort of sounded like Bradley Nowell, and Elvis impersonators are still putting food on the table. If Tupac’s lovable scowl is the face that launched a thousand holograms, then the art of profiting off of live re-creations of dead artists’ music has simply progressed one step further. And if people want to shell out money to see these technological experiences, that’s nothing that should be questioned or scolded.
