Holograms

April 27th, 2012 | 2:30 pm by Bené Viera

Waka Flocka Thinks Tupac Hologram Is Whack, Says “I Hated It”

Not everyone thought Tupac’s hologram performance at Coachella was brilliant. And it was inevitable that one holds no barred person was going to publicly state something to the effect of letting the dead rest in peace, blah blah blah. But who would’ve guessed Waka Flocka would be the one to dismiss Dr. Dre’s revered idea of digitally bringing Tupac on stage to VIBE.com? Whoa Flocka. Pump those breaks, buddy.

The ATL bred rapper known for club anthems like “No Hands” and “Round of Applause” didn’t hesitate to answer when the reporter asked him what he thought of the hologram. “I hated it,” he responded almost before the question was finished. “That s— whack.” His criticism didn’t stop there though. “I don’t think they should be doing that. ‘Cause they getting paid off a dead man’s body.” The interviewer pries a bit more telling him Tupac’s mom got over it, but Flocka was not moved. “You don’t know what a dead man be wanting to do…You gotta let that man rest in peace. He’s a great.”

Well, there you have it. Although we thought the hologram was amazing, we can appreciate when artists say what they feel. Being politically correct is so overrated. Read more…

April 26th, 2012 | 11:15 am by Mark Graham (@unclegrambo)

Is Left Eye Coming Back In Hologram Form?

Yesterday was the 10 year anniversary of the tragic passing of Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, and TLC fans spent the day both celebrating her life and mourning her loss. Capitalizing on the media attention, a spokesperson for Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas announced yesterday that TLC is currently making plans for a “massive reunion tour” of the United States later this year. Does this mean that Left Eye will be coming back, a la Tupac, in hologram form?

Well, not exactly. According to a report by TMZ, the surviving members of TLC plan to incorporate Left Eye into their concerts by “projecting her image on a big screen and working her vocals into the live performances.” Now, we love us some TLC —always have, always will— but this leaves us wondering:

TLC We’re Resurrecting Left Eye FOR A REUNION TOUR [TMZ]

[Photo: Getty Images, Lauren Olson]

April 20th, 2012 | 5:14 pm by Bené Viera

Hologram Craze: Dr. Dre Wants to See Jimi Hendrix, Marvin Gaye

Tupac’s hologram resurgence at Coachella last weekend has spun into an otherworldly pool of ideas of what other deceased celebrities should be resurrected. Super producer Dr. Dre was the visionary behind the concept and has finally broken his silence. Judging by his interview with TMZ, we can surely expect more artists to pop-up from the dead in the near future.

TMZ caught up with the Doctor as he was leaving dinner. There’s been mixed reactions about whether or not the hologram was a brilliant idea or if it was totally creepy. Well, Dre is happy with the results and said, “I think everybody’s in love with it right now, so we’re having fun.”

Not only is he having fun, he hopes other artists will create their own spin-off of his idea and bring back their favorite artists. “Hopefully, different artists are able to bring out their favorite artists,” he said. “Hopefully, we can see Jimi Hendrix and Marvin Gaye. Let’s see what happens.”

Dr. Dre I’d LOVE to See a Jimi Hendrix Hologram [TMZ]
Read more…

April 19th, 2012 | 11:55 am by Mark Graham (@unclegrambo)

EXCLUSIVE: Gavin DeGraw Talks His “Fake Dance Career” On DWTS, How He Avoided Leotards, And Holograms

When it was announced that Gavin DeGraw was going to appear on Dancing With The Stars this season, many critics initially pegged him for early elimination. After all, even he would admit that he’s not exactly known as being the next Michael Jackson or anything. However, we here at VH1 thought that he was a real dark horse in the race for the prize, and Gavin ended up shocking most of the pundits by making it all the way to Week 5 before being eliminated.

Well, we were able to grab a few minutes on the phone with our buddy Gavin last night, and we asked him about a number of topics: what his experience was like on the show, how he managed to avoid wearing a leotard, and what his reaction was to seeing Tupac in hologram form.

VH1: First of all, congrats on making it all the way to the fifth week of competition on Dancing With The Stars! What can you tell us about the experience as a whole, as well as the samba routine that led to your eventual ouster?
Gavin DeGraw: It was an awesome time. It was a lot of work, a lot more work than anyone would ever expect it to be to get the routine down the way you want it to be before you do go up in front of 20 or 25 million people and have ‘em watch.

No pressure!
Haha, exactly. The samba was kind of our “Go For It” dance, we knew it was ambitious, but I didn’t join the show just to win a show, you know? I went on to have a great time and take on a challenge. You don’t necessarily go on to win a trophy, you go on to challenge yourself and do it in the most sportsmanlike way by avoiding easy routines.

Well, it seems like all of our VH1 readers were really impressed with the way that you improved from week to week.
The fans have been AWESOME, man. I definitely would not have made it this far with all their support, I was really, really lucky to have such a strong core group of fans, people who were really supportive of an artist that they knew was trying to do something different, something outside of my comfort zone.

Speaking of being outside your comfort zone, did you ever envision a scenario in which you would be on live TV doing a dance-off with Urkel?
Never in a million years! (Laughs) First of all, I never expected to be on a dance show to begin with, the next thing you know, I’m on a dance show with a guy who was on TV all through my youth, you know? It was really trippy. That was one of the real fascinating things about the show and the real “pinch myself” element of the show that you’d end up on stage with somebody who you grew up watching on TV, whether that was Martina Navratilova, Jack Wagner, or Jaleel White. It was something nobody saw coming, I wouldn’t change it for the world.

2Pac Comes Back To Life At Coachella (As A Hologram), Performs With Snoop Dogg

“GANGSTA SH*T!” That was Snoop Dogg‘s reaction to performing alongside Tupac Shakur at Coachella last night. No, Snoop wasn’t just trippin’ on some super dope kush (although we’re pretty sure he was), the legendary 2Pac was brought back to life —on Greek Easter, no less!— and appeared in holographic form during Dr. Dre‘s closing set at Coachella last night.

We had heard earlier in the week that the late Nate Dogg was set to appear alongside Dre, Snoop, Wiz Khalifa, 50 Cent and Eminem during Sunday night’s headlining set on the Coachella Stage, but then rumors started flying around over the weekend that 2Pac would be the one to be reanimated using hologram technology. There were rumors that the CGI Pac would team up with Dre for “California Love”, but 2Pac performed “Hail Mary” and “2 Of Amerikaz Most Wanted” with Snoop Dogg instead. We’ve got video of the moment for you above, but be warned that the language is a little salty and therefore NSFW.

Full setlist below:
Read more…

April 12th, 2012 | 5:30 pm by Mark Graham (@unclegrambo)

Eminem, Warren G, And A Holographic Nate Dogg (!) To Join Dr. Dre And Snoop At Coachella This Weekend

Our insane jealousy for people who are en route to Indio, CA at the moment for the 2012 Coachella Festival was abated slightly last night when we got to see Pulp perform at Radio City Music Hall. However, the pangs of jealousy will surely once again surface once we starting seeing our Twitter feed fill up with “Wish you were here” type missives tomorrow. This year’s lineup is chock full of sure-to-be-awesome performances, but perhaps none more so than Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg‘s festival closing set on Sunday night.

It’s not being billed as a “One Night, One Album” kind of event (like 50 Cent’s performance of Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ at SXSW last month), but you can bet that their performance is going draw heavily from their landmark gangsta rap classics, The Chronic and 2001. Rolling Stone is reporting that Eminem, Warren G and Daz Dillinger are going to make “surprise” appearances, which isn’t exactly a huge shocker, but news leaked today about one TOTALLY unexpected cameo. TMZ is reporting that Nate Dogg, who passed away last year, will be appearing on stage in the form of a hologram (!!!), a la Will.I.Am during the 2008 election. We wouldn’t put it past Coachella promoter Paul Tollett to have invented an app that can call on Nate Dogg’s spirit from an astral plain somewhere, but more realistically, the hologram will be old footage of Dogg from one of Dre’s previous tours. Either way, this moment promises to be one of the most discussed concert moments of the year 2012.