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Tupac Shakur was a notorious gangster rapper with a sales history like no other and a habit for hitting the headlines with expletive-littered rants.
He died in hospital on 13 September 1996 after being shot multiple times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas six days previously.
More than eight years after his death, he's still making headlines. This time? Because - and you couldn't make this up - he apparently auditioned for the role of a Jedi Master in Star Wars .
The rapper apparently read for the part of Jedi Master Mace Windu for the prequel trilogy of films, but ultimately lost out on the part to Tarantino favourite Samuel L Jackson.
The previously unknown fact was made public by Death Row Records engineer Rick Clifford. Shakur, he claimed, told him about the reading during a conversation the pair had back in 1996.
"'Pac found out that I worked for Brian Austin Green, who was on 90210, then he found out I [worked on] some movies, so we always talked about his film career and stuff," Clifford told fansite 2Pac-Forum .
"He was telling me that he was supposed to read for George Lucas and them. They wanted him to be a Jedi. I'm serious.
"Samuel L got Tupac's part. [Tupac] said [to me], 'Old man, keep your fingers crossed'. He said, 'I've got three movies coming up. One of them, I've got to read for George Lucas'."
Shakur’s movie career was well underway by the time he passed away. His credits included Poetic Justice , Bullet and basketball drama Above the Rim , among others.
However, his box office successes were pocket change compared to his hip-hop haulage. Shakur has sold upwards of 75million albums worldwide, making him one of the world’s best-selling artists of all time. But he was not, sadly, destined to become a Jedi.
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Facebook
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Nasa
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Flickr (stuartpilbrow)
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Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images
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GETTY
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University of Sheffield
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Manchester Museum
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PA
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Sussanah Ireland
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Getty
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AP
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Getty Images
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Screenshot from the 'Blurred Lines' video
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