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| "I’m a ghost in these killing fields" - Tupac Shakur at Coachella 2012 |
The
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival held in Indio, California
opened on April 13 and will continue until April 22. One particular
“performance” brought fans across the country together to cherish a rapper who
hadn’t been in concert since his death in 1996.
Tupac
Shakur, also known as 2Pac, was an American rapper raised in New York City.
Through his multiple albums with top-charting hits, Tupac had reached fans
around the country. In 1996, his sudden murder brought a blanket of despair and
loss across the United States. Shakur’s murder, still unsolved today, was
thought to be the end of his career. However, during the Coachella festival,
Tupac had risen for one last performance.
Tupac’s
live performace with Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre at the Coachella Festival brought
tears for fans around the country.Hollywood’s special effects studio, Digital
Domain, created a 5 minute hologram performance of Tupac. They studied his
actions, speech, and behaviors during his life to replicate a show just as he
would have performed it when he was alive. It was estimated to have cost over
$400,000 to produce. Because of his musical success, his “rebirth”went viral
through the use of mass communication.
Snoop Dogg,
who was featured with Dr. Dre in Tupac’s show, posted a link on his
Facebook page. Within hours, the post had over 70,000 Facebook
“likes” and nearly 5,000 comments. Fans from everywhere flooded the YouTube
video to see the performance.
2Pac.com,
the official webpage of Shakur, posted a discussion titled, “Coachella
Resurrection” hours after the release of the video performance.
Numerous fans commented on the post. John Lopez of Las Vegas, Nevada stated,
“Tupac wasn’t the only thing that was resurrected last night…that performance
resurrected a lot in ourselves…RIP.” The Huffington Post wrote, "Twitter
was set ablaze by the performance". The famous pop singer, Katy Perry,
tweeted, "I think I might have cried when I saw Tupac. #coachella." while
Wiz Khalifa tweeted, "That Was The Best Shit I Seen In My Life!"
Regardless
of Tupac being dead or alive, his impact on society still lingers. Technology
such as Facebook or Twitter can attract a lot of attention and has the ability
to produce such a high reaction from fans and celebrities.
