A biopic about the late rapper Tupac Shakur will begin filming next year.
Morgan Creek Productions' long-planned film about the 'Changes' hitmaker - who died in 1996 at the tender age of 25 - will go into production in February 2012 in Atlanta after securing a co-financing deal with Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films.
The film has secured the rights to utilise all of Tupac's musical back catalogue and the late star's mother, Afeni Shakur, is on board as a producer.

Tupac rose to fame as a prolific music artist in the 1990s, with his often politically charged lyrics making him an icon to rap fans. The star also embraced a 'thug life' persona which saw him embroiled in a feud between rappers from opposite sides of the United States.
The rapper was gunned down in the street in Las Vegas in 1996 and died in hospital six days later.

Tupac was also a rising actor with roles in movies such as 'Juice' and 'Gridlock'd'.
There is no word on who will play the late rapper in the biopic, but actor Anthony Mackie previously portrayed Tupac in 2009's 'Notorious', a biopic about fellow rapper Notorious B.I.G.
The movie is being scripted by Eddie Gonzalez and Jeremy Haft.