After what felt like years of rumors, a Notorious B.I.G. hologram is finally becoming a reality, according to a new report from Billboard. The report states that an agreement between the tech company ARHT and ByStorm Entertainment was recently made that will include appearances of the Biggie "Humagram" in both music videos and concerts. The deal was apparently negotiated over the past nine months and Biggie's estate was sold on ARHT because of the overall smoothness of the technology. "We have a very sophisticated transmission technology for beaming these digital humans through the public Internet to literally any point on the planet," ARHT CEO Paul Duffytold Billboard. "These digital humans can scale to any size of venue so it can be in a window display, your living room or it could be in a 50,000-seat arena for a real-time delivery and display of this human hologram, that we call 'Humagrams'."
The use of this sort of technology in rap was first introduced in 2012, when a hologram Tupac Shakur performed at Coachella. "This project has been a long-time coming, and it is very special to me," Biggie's mother, Voletta Wallace, told Billboard. "Words can't even capture how elated I am for the world to finally see my son again on stage and beyond. Christopher’s impact and legacy will not only live through his past work, but also the new experiences which have been made possible through ARHT Media."
As of right now, it's unclear if the Biggie "Humagram" will make an appearance at the upcoming Bad Boy Reunion shows in Brooklyn next month, but it wouldn't be a surprise at all, especially since Puff Daddy didn't deny it during a recent interview. It was however confirmed in the report that the technology will be used in an upcoming music video for Faith Evans' new single with Biggie from their upcoming duets album, The King & I. "After seeing all the technologies out there, I realized right away that ARHT Media would be the best partner to bring back Notorious B.I.G.," Evans said. "I look forward to continue working with them and presenting the world with his Humagram in both video and stage format, through the release of my album The King & I."
As of now, Evans hasn't revealed the complete details for the upcoming album, but said that the first single will be out soon and then the project should be out in the fall. You can read the full details of the Biggie hologram deal here.
