The late hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur is actually alive and well… if a new fan theory that has swooped upon a dubious ‘selfie’ circulating the internet is to be believed, that is.

The image comes from a YouTube video dating from 2015, which contains a photo taken on a smartphone purchased in 2011, according to those fans claiming its veracity. It features a man who, admittedly, resembles Tupac in a blue and black raincoat and a red bandana looking up into the camera lens.

According to news.com.au, the waterproof the man is wearing hit the shops in 2012. The makers of the video, who run the YouTube channel Tupac Legacy, say they’re “not 100 per cent [Tupac] is alive but I want to share my view”.

Tupac ShakurThe dubious image proves that Tupac [performing in the '90s, above] is actually still alive, according to some

Tupac was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting incident in Las Vegas in September 1996, shot four times by unknown assailants and passing away in hospital several days later.

However, a conspiracy theory has held that the rapper actually faked his own death and escaped the States to live in Cuba – something that fans say was backed up by a 2012 interview by the man who was with him at the time of the shooting, Death Row label owner Suge Knight.

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Opinion about the new photo amid fans was immediately split, with some rightly pointing out that, if he was trying to maintain a cover by faking his own death, why would he break it for a pointless selfie?

“Do you think if he was alive and was hiding it he would post a photo online? Lol” one amused onlooker wrote.

Others fans seem convinced that the man really is Tupac, with one writing “I can’t believe it!, he’s really alive! my dad is going to be so happy!!” and “he is true that he is alive (sic)”.

Hmmm…

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