Dave Chappelle Predicted the Future

  
If you haven't heard already, which I doubt if you're reading this, a hologram* of Tupac performed with Snoop on Sunday at Coachella. In a related note, he wrote this song in '94**.

Where to begin with this? Every story I've seen mentions the same basic facts about the production: it cost between $100K and $400K, and was created over four months by the same effects company that aged Brad Pitt as Benjamin Button and put the Dragon Tattoo on Rooney Mara. The weirdest part is that it was completely CGI. With the outrageous amounts of unreleased music he left behind, you would think someone had miles of video footage. At times, the mannerisms were spot on, but there were times where he came off more "like CJ in San Andreas**."  Also, oddly enough, this was originally going to be Nate Dogg, but they decided to use Pac instead.

So what next? As I watched this, my first thought was, "How long before this catches on?" My next: "How bad is this going to get?" How long until the original members of Lynyrd Skynyrd "tour"? How long before Jimi, Janice, Jim, and Kurt perform together as "Forever 27" at a Super Bowl? (Opening act: Amy Winehouse.) Better (or maybe worse) yet, how long before kids at home can do this? Will the next Odd Future video come into your living room and destroy it? 


The amount of inner conflict I feel watching this is roughly equal to the amount of irony in a holographic image* shouting "Feel me!" On one hand I read that Afeni Shakur is proud to see her son perform, on the other hand, it feels creepy as hell. I wondered for a moment how Tupac would feel about this, but he made it quite clear that he wanted to have his music released long after his death. Had he any idea that such a technology would exist, he probably would have recorded literally years of said video footage. Remember when Wayne went to jail? How many videos and features came out while he was locked up? Hell, he had at least one studio album and several mixtapes. Aaaggghh! I just realized that he knows about this technology and is probably planning ahead! Weezy's hologram is gonna be selling kid's cereal to your grandkids' grandkids!


Ultimately, the question on the mind of anyone who makes money from entertainment is whether you'll buy a ticket to see this. Based on the price, it's not necessarily much more expensive than having to pay an actual artist. Now, this was far too short a performance to warrant a one-off expense of up to 400 stacks, but CGI is expensive as hell. The first 15 seconds of the Battleship trailer probably cost that much. I'm sure you could use retouched video for considerably less. For that initial investment though, it sounds like it may be relatively cheap to replay the same performance each time. I'm sure it takes some sophisticated equipment, but again, that's an initial investment. Dre's already announced that he's taking "Pac" on the road, so it's a matter of time before we see Nate Dogg, or even,...I can't believe I just thought of this...EAZY MUTHAFUCKIN E! 


Gonna walk away on that note.


Notes:
*This wasn't an actual hologram, but rather a Pepper's Ghost, an old magician's trick.

**