Performing Beyond the Grave

‘Two of America’s most wanted in the same motherfucking place at the same motherfucking time’, shouts a long-dead Tupac Shakur (1971–1996) as he gestures to his fellow rapper Snoop Dogg, on stage at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April 2012 in front of an estimated 75,000 fans. This lyric from his 1996 duet with Snoop, titled ‘2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted’, suddenly generates new meaning within this new context, well over 15 years since the single was released. The ‘same place’ and ‘same time’ highlights the unearthly pairing of one living and one dead rap icon; the latter seen as a return from the dead for a performer plagued by speculation about his untimely murder. Yet here on the festival stage, Tupac seems ‘alive’, resurrected for the purpose of performing beyond the grave. The ‘liveness’ of Tupac is documented in an official video on Snoop’s YouTube channel which captures their posthumous duet from several different cameras (Westfesttv, 2014). The wide angles create a sense of spaciousness – a full shot of Tupac showcases his entire body as he prowls along the stage alongside Snoop – while close-up and panning shots capture the play of light over the curves of Tupac’s naked torso. He is incredibly life-like, from his signature chest tattoos to his characteristic bodily movements. The overt sense of realism fuelled speculations by fans and media outlets about the technology used to create the performance. Digital Domain, the special effects company which designed Tupac’s digital image, summarised the breadth and depth of public curiosity: ‘YouTube videos of the performance amassed 15 million views. Google search results for “Tupac hologram” exceeded 50 million. 2Pac album sales increased 500% … There were thousands of media stories, assessing “virtual 2Pac’s” impact on everything from music to entertainment, ethics, technology and intellectual property’ (Digital Domain, 2014).