Believe it or not, it has been five long years since Tupac passed away and the hip-hop world was changed forever.

The rapper, actor, poet, and visionary died on September 13, 1996, just days after he was shot outside a boxing match in Las Vegas. Tupac's killer has never been positively identified, but his legend has grown larger every year since his death.

Tupac Amaru Shakur was born in Brooklyn in 1971 to Black Panther parents. He grew up in Baltimore and later moved with his family to Oakland. It was here in the Bay that he became involved in hip-hop, meeting up with Digital Underground, first as a dancer, and later as a guest on their tracks. Tupac released several solo albums throughout the nineties until he was killed in 1996. "New" Tupac material has continued to be steadily released even after his death.

RIP 1971-1996