Never got to see Elvis Presley, James Brown, Frank Sinatra, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Michael Jackson, Thin Lizzy with Phil Lynott, Gang Starr's Guru, Wu-Tang Clan with ODB, Bob Marley, Biggie, J-Dilla, Mac Dre or 2Pac in concert when they were alive? No worries. Now you can, or likely will soon be able to, see any deceased artist "live" in concert via the latest advanced, almost lifelike use of holograms if the success of last night's Coachella 2012 Festival is any indicator. During the SoCal festival's closing set last night by Dr Dre when, using state of the art high-tech 3D images of the deceased rapper, the late great Tupac Shakur (aka 2Pac) performed both a song by himself and then a collaboration on stage with Snoop Dogg.

Now while holograms are not new - even their use in big concert settings has already been done like last year when hologram technology was utilized by Mariah Carey who simultaneously did five different concerts across Europe - the profound impact of last night's lifelike Pac appearance is bound to have a major impact on use of the technology in concert settings.

As seen in above video the eerily lifelike hologram image of Shakur, who was gunned down dead 16 years ago, was simultaneously brilliant and spooky. The projected hologram was extremely realistic (even more so when you see it in person and not via video) right down to every little mannerism of the famous murdered rapper that it was like he was really there - and you could tell from the howls of the crowd that the audience members were really feeling it too.

Spring is around the corner which means it's time for our hotly anticipated, wildly popular Coachella contest! Amoeba.com is giving away a pair of tickets to the April 20-22 weekend where you can see over 150 bands in the sunny California desert including The Black Keys, Radiohead, Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg, Bon Iver, Florence + the Machine, Pulp, Mazzy Star, and M83. Both weekends are way sold out so this may be your last chance to score tickets. 

Enter our Coachella contest here.

The following Top 30 Hip-Hop Singles chart from February/March 1993, which was originally compiled and published by long defunct East Coast hip-hop zine One Nut Network, was put together based on rap singles' airplay on both college hip-hop radio shows and commercial radio mix shows at the time. The time was early 1993, considered by most as the tail end of hip-hop's much celebrated and oft lamented so-called "golden age" or "golden era," when, it seemed, every new hip-hop release was a noteworthy (and worth owning) release. And while that belief may not be 100% correct, it is, as the following chart indicates, pretty darn close to the truth.

By just eye-balling the 30 singles on the Feb/March 1993 chart below, many of which, including Black Moon, Dr Dre, Young Black Teenagers, and Ice Cube, got released towards the end of 1992 but still had airplay into the first quarter of 1993, you can tell a lot about the status of hip-hop at the time and where it stood in its historical development. For example, many of the acts most associated with the aforementioned "golden age" of hip-hop were represented here, including Kool G Rap ("Ill Street Blues"), Gang Starr ["Gotta Get Over (Taking Loot)"], Brand Nubian ("Punks Jump Up To Get Beat Down"), Diamond D ("Sally Got A One Track Mind"), Naughty By Nature ("Hip Hop Hooray"), and Lords of the Underground ("Funky Child") -- each of which happened to be East Coast (NY or NJ) acts.

While the publicity blitz a couple of months back surrounding the remastered reissue of the Beatles' back catalog was certainly justified, it wasn't the only remastered reissue of classic music material to come out back in early September. In that same week Dr Dre's landmark debut solo 1992 album The Chronic was reissued in a new remastered and repackaged form.

Retitled The Chronic Re-Lit & From The Vaults and released by Wideawake/Death Row, the new reissue offers much more music -- over twice as much as the original! The new two disc set includes all of The Chronic’s original sixteen tracks remastered, plus liner notes from producer Quincy Jones III. More importantly, the new reissue includes a DVD entitled From The Vault, which features music videos for singles from The Chronic, a half hour Dr. Dre interview, plus various promotional pieces. The new package also includes seven unreleased songs featuring Snoop Dogg, CPO, Jewell, and Kurupt.

The Chronic, released in late '92, forever changed the direction of popular hip-hop and made Snoop Doggy Dogg (as he was then known) a star. It also propelled the careers of Daz Dillinger, Nate Dogg, Kurupt, and (Dre's step-brother) Warren G. And its singles, including "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" (see video below), "Fuck wit Dre Day (and Everybody's Celebratin'),” and "Let Me Ride," were hits and ruled the airwaves for quite some time.

1) Eminem Relapse (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope)

2) Method Man & Redman Blackout! 2 (Def Jam)

3) The Grouch & Eligh Say G&E! (Legendary Music)

4) Busta Rhymes Back On My B.S. (Flipmode/Universal Motown)

5) Tanya Morgan Brooklynati (Interdependent Media)

Eminem's latest full-length, Relapse on Shady/Aftermath/Interscope is the Detroit artist's sixth studio album and his first in five years. It is also in the number slot on the hip-hop chart at Amoeba Music Berkeley this week, just as it ranked last week at the Amoeba Hollywood store. The 20 track album from the 35 year old artist, born Marshall Bruce Mathers III, comes 13 years since his independantly released debut album Infinite, and exactly ten years since his major label breakthrough and first album through Dr Dre's Aftermath Entertainment, The Slim Shady LP.  Dr. Dre not only produced most of the new album (and its promised sequel in a few months) but Dre also cameos on the track "Crack A Bottle" with 50 Cent. As for the reaction to Relapse? It is charting high at Amoeba and elsewhere. Even here in Dublin, Ireland, where I am writing this Amoeblog, it is given high profile in and getting high sales at all the main record stores. But also here in Europe, as in the States, the album has folks divided into the two camps of either loving or hating it. Those who hate it include many former Eminem fans who contend that he has fallen off and is merely going through the motions. Those who love it do admit that it takes a few listens to fully appreciate and warn the faint of heart to be prepared for Em's often unsettling, disturbingly vivid tales of violence and abuse, including, of course, drug abuse, which is the album's theme, based on the artist's open admission to a prescription drugs addiction.