Rock The Bells 2013: Eazy-E's Hologram Takes Over Day 1

mr. 13 in 33 · Sep 8, 2013

Hip-hop newcomers, veterans, and even the deceased, aligned for this year's Rock the Bells festival returning back to the San Manuel Amphitheater in San Bernardino, CA Saturday (Sept. 7). With more than two dozen acts on the bill, day one was all about shuffling between three stages to see the likes of Common, Chief Keef, Earl Sweatshirt, Riff Raff, Pusha T, Hit-Boy, Big K.R.I.T. Black Hippy, plus the heavily anticipated Eazy-E hologram performance helmed by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.

Among the lineup Keef, 18, made for a big draw as a upcoming artist, being that the Chicago native was a no show last year, and has had a bunch of legal drama as of late. He took the Fools Gold stage supported by tons of hype men but lacked enough enthusiasm, even during "I Don't Like," to hold the crowd too long after Earl Sweatshirt's run on the rival Hip Hop DX stage.

But the night really belonged to Eazy-E. Introducing his posthumous return, Bone Thugs zoomed through their classics ("1st of tha Month," "Thuggish Ruggish Bone," "Days of Our Lives," and "Tha Crossroads" ) and tested out new material, amid cutting into the dedication phase. On what would've been his 50th birthday, the N.W.A. leader's digital reincarnation casually appeared asking, "What's up L.A.?" The voiceover sent the crowd into a tense, albeit excited round of applause -- if at times uncomfortable and jittery. He launched into "Boyz In the Hood" and ended with "Straight Out of Compton."

Winding down the list of headliners was TDE collective Black Hippy (Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, Jay Rock), all of whom performed one by one, commencing with Kendrick Lamar and a montage of his singles and features.

Kid Cudi closed out the festival with an electrifying set of hits from his "Man on the Moon" series to his latest "Indicud" album. Cudi left ragers out of breath.

Night two of RTB will include a second hologram set, this time of O.D.B. with the Wu-Tang Clan.
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DallasThomas · Sep 8, 2013

That's bad ass. I remember Layzie Bone saying how they wanted to do an Eazy E hologram right after he saw the Tupac one. Good to see it finally happened.

I have a feeling though that a lot of the voicework was done by Eazy's son, Lil Eazy.

Yung-T · Sep 8, 2013

Heard they just captured Lil Eazy and it sure does look like him. Much more weight than Eazy and sounds different. Don't know what's the point of dressing up Lil Eazy as his father and then making a hologram of him.

DallasThomas · Sep 8, 2013

Yung-T said: ↑

Heard they just captured Lil Eazy and it sure does look like him. Much more weight than Eazy and sounds different. Don't know what's the point of dressing up Lil Eazy as his father and then making a hologram of him.
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Yeah, that's a little disappointing to find out. I was hearing his voice in all of the in-between stuff like "What's up LA", etc. But they put on a good show nonetheless. Apparently it was Eazy's 50th birthday when they did this.

Dairy Ashford · Sep 9, 2013

Still not a fan of this, consent aside it seems exploitative. It also doesn't seem like something they'd have done with deceased non-rappers; so I wonder if these guys, pseudonyms and all, were ever really humanized by the mainstream listening audience.

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