2Pac at MTV awards
2Pac's charisma and appeal saw him take his Thug Life outlook into the pop charts Reuters

The first trailer for the much-anticipated Tupac Shakur biopic, All Eyez On Me, has been unveiled on what would have been the rap legend's 45th birthday. On Tuesday (16 June) fans were treated to their first glimpse of Demetrius Shipp Jr as the enigmatic hip-hop star.

More about Tupac

In the 60-second clip The Walking Dead's Danai Gurira, who plays the Afeni Shakur, the late mother of the Hail Mary hit maker, narrates the tragic events of his life. "This ain't just about you. Like all black men you have a bullseye on your back," she says with an fitting intensity. "They are gonna give you the tools that you need to destroy yourself."

Tupac was shot and killed in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 7 September 1996. He was travelling in a car with Death Row Records founder Suge Knight after attending a Mike Tyson fight at the MGM Grand, when he was fatally wounded in a drive-by attack.

The biopic – helmed by music video director Benny Boom – is named after Tupac's iconic album, All Eyez On Me, which celebrated its 20th anniversary on 13 February. The double-disc record was the last album the rapper recorded before his death and featured hits including How Do U Want It and California Love.

A release date for the film, which will focus on his rise as Death Row Records' most notable rapper, various run-ins with the law, romance and his fatal drive-by shooting, is yet to be announced. Shipp Jr joins Marcc Rose who immortilised the rapper in NWA biopic Straight Outta Compton.

Watch the All Eyez On Me trailer here: