Everyone keeps talking about Tupac Shakur’s Sunday night Coachella holographic cameo — a feat that transported the 15-years-dead rap legend from the grave to a stage in the middle of the Californian desert.
Performing hauntingly in sync alongside Snoop Dog and Dr. Dre, the collection of rap greats left shivers down the spine of the hip-hop collective and a crazy little taste in the mouths of the curious. Is this the first of what’s to come, a debut of hologram technology so significant to the history of rap that it could be duplicated across all genres? Is Michael Jackson next? Biggie? Is this the future — where no longer are the greats left to recorded history and is it thus possible then, as one YouTube commenter suggested, that soon we’ll be sipping Hennessey with our own personalized ‘Pacs, Biggies and Cobains?
MTV had a chance to chat with hologram creator Nick Smith, president of AV Concepts, the company responsible for the holographic performance featuring Madonna and Gorillaz at the 2005 Grammys. The visionary however was Dr. Dre himself who worked with his long-term partners Philip Atwell (Geronimo Productions) and Dylan Brown (The Yard). Smith told MTV, “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.”
The hologram was created by Digital Domain, the Oscar-winning CG company that has created replications of Brad Pitt, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Bacon and many other Hollywood stars in various big budget films. Smith wouldn’t talk specs in the MTV interview, nor would he confirm if all the vocals were indeed ‘Pac’s, but he did say the hologram took months of planning and cost between $100,000 and $400,000 to create. He said the “affordable” price tag would allow them to put any performer in any country on the planet.
If you haven’t watched the performance yet you must watch below as the hologram is freakishly realistic, complete with ‘Pac’s signature style, jewelry and tattoos. The definition in his arms and abs is unnerving as he waves the mic around and shouts to the Coachella crowd. The late poet’s natural movements were created under Dre’s direction.
Freaky and wild yes, but not impossible. Holographic technology has been available for years and advancements are becoming increasingly popular in major motion pictures, musical performance and theatre. Acclaimed actor Liam Neeson will appear as a 3D hologram in the sci-fi stage adaptation of War of the Worlds, set to make its debut overseas December of this year. He plays a journalist that fights Martians and shoots real fireballs into the audience. Like Tupac, he will interact seamlessly with live performers.
It’s just another twist in the blurring of reality and fiction, where technology takes on the role of the mad scientist resurrecting cadavers from beyond the grave. But since this is neither limited to the living or the dead, one can only imagine all the spoiled children of rich parents watching performances of holographic Biebers at their sweet sixteens.
Some fans believe Tupac’s death to be one of history’s greatest hoaxes and that he’s actually been living in Cuba since his death was reported September 13, 1996. These fans see Tupac as a master of deception and that the “digital performance” merely foreshadows his pending return in 2014 at age 43. The realistic hologram changes art and entertainment, begging the question of where do we draw the line — or does the line even matter anymore? Does reality even matter anymore?
As Tupac himself once said, “Reality is wrong. Dreams are for the real.”
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Sheena Lyonnais writes about tech for Toronto Standard. You can follow her on Twitter at @SheenaLyonnais.
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