A jewel-encrusted 'crown' bling ring designed and worn by Tupac Shakur during his last public appearance is to go under the hammer - and could sell for nearly £250,000. <br /><br />The extravagant gold, ruby and diamond sovereign ring will sell as part of auction house Sotheby's sale marking the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. <br /><br />Widely regarded as one of the genre's prodigal sons, rap royalty Tupac was gunned down in 1996 in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, aged just 25.<br /><br />The killing came just three days after wearing the ring at his final public appearance at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs).<br /><br />The self-designed ring marked a new phase in the rapper and actor's life, in which he abandoned his 'Thug Life' persona following a spell in prison and founded media conglomerate Euphanasia Incorporated. <br /><br />The piece of hip-hop history is expected to sell for between £152,719 and £229,079 ($200,000 and $300,000) at auction in New York later this week. <br /><br />Sotheby's auction comes just weeks before the 50th anniversary of hip-hop - a culture founded by African Americans in New York incorporating rap, DJing, breakdancing and graffiti. <br /><br />Though the true location of the culture's birth is hotly contested and claimed by several different boroughs across New York, many credit the unlikely event of an August back-to-school party held in the Bronx in 1973 by Clive Campbell - better known as DJ Kool Herc - and his younger sister Cindy as marking the beginning of hip-hop. <br /><br />Campbell used two turntables at the party to play two copies of the same record and loop the percussion of each track to keep the beat of the track going. <br /><br />From there, other pioneers of the genre emerged, firstly from other boroughs in New York and later, across the United States and the rest of the world, a thriving new community and culture was born. <br /><br />Two years before DJ Kool Herc's back-to-school party, a young boy destined to take the genre to new heights was born in East Harlem, New York, the son of Black Panther Party members. <br /><br />Originally named Lesane Parish Crooks, the boy's name was changed at age one to Tupac Amaru Shakur after Peruvian indigenous revolutionary leader Túpac Amaru II - a descendant of the last Incan ruler who led a failed revolt against Spanish rule.<br /><br />After moving further downcoast to Baltimore and later to the West Coast, and following several collaborations with rap group Digital Underground, Tupac's first album - 2Pacalypse Now - was released in November 1991 and was later certified gold after selling more than half a million records. <br /><br />Throughout his career, the artist was also seen as a hip-hop fashion icon who redefined 'cool' in the 90s with his streetwear and bling. <br /><br />Three albums and several film appearances later - as well as surviving a robbery-shooting in 1994, later blamed on rival East Coast rapper Notorious BIG (AKA Christopher Wallace) and his entourage - Shakur entered a new phase of his career in 1996.
