Coachella, long the hipsterâs choice for desert festivals featuring hyper-relevant indiebuzz bands, this year played host to a throwback to the Southern California G-funk days of yore. Yeah, Snoop and Dre were both looking particularly smiley â perhaps due to chilling with the reggae eel, and perhaps due to at least a decade of polishing and repackaging their images â and by most accounts they kicked ass. I know one thing: with that pair relying heavily on the 90s in their set, Iâm almost uncomfortably jealous of all of my friends filling my Facebook feed with stylish photos from Coachellaâs lush lawns. I would have loved to see the duo taking it back to the glory days.But no one seems to really care how Snoop and Dre performed because TUPAC PLAYED. People â even currently all around me in the office â are freaking out about a hologram of a long-dead person performing one track. And, Iâll admit, I got goosebumps the first time I saw it. But now â as I hear the video start up for the TENTH time this morning â Iâm wondering who thought this was a good idea.Sure, itâs great to see all kinds of people going ga-ga over the man who was likely rapâs most powerful, aggressive poet. Tupac left an indelible mark on rap, and that would have been true whether or not he was murdered. But to drag out video of him in his prime (with possibly computer-enhanced six-pack), nearly 16 years after his death, alongside a pair of guys whoâve left the world they once shared with Tupac long behind, as tens of thousands of affluent young folk wave their hands and talk about how meaningful it all is that a dead man is back to sing a song about getting killed? It seems more than just a little bit gauche, doesnât it?And, yeah, itâs impressive how much stage presence Pac has, even as a computerized ghost. Props are due to the people at Musion, who designed the 3d-but-really-2d rapper, a feat theyâve also pulled off for Gorillaz. For the real holograms, meet Dr. Laser.But, seriously. Is this what weâre doing to Tupac now? I mean, hologram performances are exclusively utilized by corny Japanese nĂŒ-metal-ish girl-rock supergroups. Even worse, it wasnât even his real voice, at least not totally; as my colleague Abraham Riesman pointed out, itâs doubtful Tupac ever yelled âWhat the fuck is up Coachella!?â at any point in his life.Is that where weâre headed with killed rappers? Are Biggie and Pimp C going to be repurposed as digital cartoons who shill tracks that will slowly devolve into pop schlock for desert parties in the uncanny valley? Letâs not forget that a decade and a half after both Tupac and Biggie were murdered, their cases are still only kinda-sorta solved. But thatâs fine, because apparently theyâre not really dead.Follow Derek Mead on Twitter: @drderekmead.
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