California knows how to party and if you don’t believe that you must have not been to the 13th annual Coachella Music and Arts Festival.
Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre reunited for a blazing set on the Main Stage on Sunday bringing out the star power of Eminem, Warren G, Tony Yayo, Kendrick Lamar, Wiz Khalifa, 50 Cent, Kurupt and even a posthumous, holographic Tupac Shakur.
“This is historically epic. These are classic, iconic rappers on stage,” said Lucius Ordway Nicholson of Los Angeles, who rapped along with Snoop and Dre.
While rumors of Nate Dogg being resurrected for the show as a hologram was abuzz all over social media, Tupac appeared to perform “Hail Mary” and other favorites lighting up the Twitter feeds as thousands tried to wrap their heads around what they were seeing.
Tupac died nearly 16 years ago in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas.
Noelle Scaggs of Fitz and the Tantrums, who performed on the Main Stage Sunday just hours before the rappers, tweeted: “Just had my mind blown off by #SnoopDogg and #DrDre at #Coachella.”
“That was pretty much the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. I mean, we knew there were going to be cameos there but Eminem, 50 Cent and a 3-D hologram of Tupac?” said Emad Gaholami of San Francisco. “It was basically the entire ‘90s rap scene from my childhood wrapped up in one show. It was pretty fantastic.”
The rap duo dropped hits more than a decade old from “Gin & Juice” to “Next Episode” and “California Love” that kept the crowd on a high (possibly a contact high as the rappers smoked so much marijuana mushroom clouds could be seen from miles away).
But as Dean Lockwood of Palm Springs pointed out via Twitter, the rappers – nearly in their 50s – dated themselves with a reference to the antiquated pager.
“Wait… ‘My beeper kept beepin’?” Lockwood tweeted as Snoop and Dre performed “Nuthin But A G Thang.”
Appearances by their prodigies brought it back to more recent chart toppers like “Birthday” performed by 50 Cent; “Young, Wild & Free” featuring Wiz Khalifa; and Eminem’s “I Need a Doctor.”
It ain’t no fun if the homies can’t have none, but Coachella festival-goers certainly got theirs Sunday.
Another round of Coachella acts, including Snoop and Dre, is set for this weekend, but no one so far can fathom how they’re going to top Sunday’s show. For rizzle.