While scrolling through my Twitter feed the other day I discovered, via Rolling Stone, that rapper Tupac Shakur performed at the Coachella music festival. This struck me as weird, on account of the fact that Shakur has been dead for almost 16 years.

However, thanks to the genius of Dr. Dre and the wonders of modern technology, the Coachella production staff was able to create a life-sized, seemingly multi-dimensional version of the late rapper – an image that, according to the Wall Street Journal, may be going on tour sometime in the near future.

You heard me – on tour. Headlining its own show. My first thought was, “Wow, I hope this whole resurrecting dead celebrities via hologram business doesn’t become a thing.” I love Amy Winehouse as much as the next person, but I don’t want to see her in holographic form at the Grammys.

Yet at the same time, I can understand this logic. Tupac isn’t just some disposable hip hop artist whose sound can be easily mimicked by someone else. He’s a legend, a true gangster. He’s No. 86 on Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Artists of all time” list, with a blurb on him authored by 50 Cent.

“People either try to emulate him in some way, or they go in a different direction because they didn’t like what he did,” 50 Cent wrote. “But whatever you think of him, he definitely developed his own style: He didn’t sound like anyone who came before him.”

My first reaction was “no way.” It seemed creepy, strange and even a little disrespectful to the artist’s memory. However, upon further reflection, I’ve decided that given the right circumstances, I might dish out a good chunk of money to see my favorite deceased musician perform. But it would depend on who it was. If it were Michael Jackson or Whitney Houston, then probably not. But for Tupac, maybe I would.

Hear me out. When Shakur was allegedly shot and killed via drive-by in September of 1996, I was five years old, and at the time had never heard a Tupac song in my life. Jackson died in 2009, right after I graduated from high school, and Houston died earlier this year.

I probably wouldn’t pay to see a holographic form of Jackson moonwalk across a stage somewhere because I remember what the real Michael Jackson was like. I remember what the media was saying about him when he was alive and I watched some of his highly publicized trial regarding his Neverland ranch. I never had that with Tupac –  I was too young. However, in my almost-adulthood, I have come to love and appreciate his talent and his contributions to rap.

Plus, that image – hologram or whatever – was just too real. In the video I watched of the hologram’s performance, the fake Tupac is standing on the stage, moving exactly like a human being and looking as multi-dimensional as ever. I realize that in this day and age, where our cell phones are computers and they rule every aspect of our lives, we have some amazing technology at our disposal. It’s so realistic that it would almost be as cool as seeing the man in the flesh.

A little part of me is hoping that hologram was really Tupac himself, out of hiding once and for all. If so I say, Tupac, I get your whole “let’s pretend to be Jesus” thing – we’ve all been there – but the fun’s over. Come out of hiding already and keep making amazing rap music that I love. Thank you.

Laura Finaldi can be reached at [email protected].

Video via XxUSGxX