Tupac Shakur stole the show with his lifelike performance of “Hail Mary” and “2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted” during Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg’s Coachella set on Sunday. The haunting hologram of the late legend was all the buzz by Monday morning, with many questions being asked and answered. Find out what Pac’s mother thought, who envisioned the idea, and how much it cost.
1. Tupac’s protective mother Afeni Shakur was “positively thrilled” after seeing her son back on stage, according to TMZ. While she was not in attendance at the festival, she did watch the live stream on YouTube.
2. Dr. Dre asked Afeni for approval to incorporate her son into his performance and she agreed. As a thank you, Dre reportedly made a donation to the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation.
3. The Tupac hologram was Dre’s idea. He called on San Diego-based company AV Concepts, who took nearly four months to create it in a studio. “We worked with Dr. Dre on this and it was Dre’s vision to bring this back to life,” Nick Smith, president of AV Concepts, told MTV News. “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.”
4. The exact cost of bringing Pac back to life for one night is undisclosed, but is estimated in the price range of $100,000 to upwards of $400,000.
5. According to Daz Dillinger, Nate Dogg was originally supposed to appear as a hologram as well, but a last-minute decision was made not to use him. Instead photos of the late rapper flashed across the screen as Snoop performed “Ain’t No Fun.”
If you missed the resurrection of Tupac at Coachella, watch it here.