Tupac Shakur's mother is launching a legal battle over claims her son's unreleased recordings will be sold as part of a bankruptcy agreement.

Afeni Shakur has attempted to get an injunction in a US court after she claimed that Death Row records is trying to sell some of the rapper's material.

Her legal team has said that unreleased material from the rapper should have been given to the Shakur estate when the record company reached an agreement with the family after the rapper's death.

Death Row records is struggling financially and the courts are considering whether to allow the company to release a new Tupac album to ease its debts.

Shakur was killed in 1996 while sitting in the passenger seat of Death Row boss Marion 'Suge' Knight's car.

Two years prior, the rapper had been shot five times during a robbery but had recovered to produce the albums Me Against the World and All Eyez on Me.

Since his death a number of new recordings have surfaced, including records released under the pseudonym Makaveli.

He has sold over 38 million records to date with some released on the Amaru Entertainment label founded by his mother after his death.

Death Row record launched Shakur's career and had a young Snoop Dog and Dr Dre on its books.

However, after Shakur's death the label began to struggle and lost some of its biggest artists to rivals.