A handwritten letter by Tupac Shakur is going up for sale for $225,000.

The 'Dear Mama' rapper penned the note to Nina Bhadresher, who worked for Death Row Records, while in jail on sexual assault charges in 1995 in which he set out his intent to start a ''new chapter'' of his life.

In the note to Nina, who edited Death Row Uncut magazine and her own publication The Real State, he wrote: ''I am not granting this information to any other publication, not even Time & Rolling Stone so please represent it as it is layed. I trust u.(sic)''

The rapper - who was fatally shot a year after writing the letter - went on to explain that while withdrawing from drugs and alcohol, ''the seeds planted . . . before me showed me the path to the next level.''

He continued: ''[Many] never survive the next level of Thug Life . . . They become addicted to death. A True Boss Playa knows when to advance . . . U must play the game, not let the game play u.

''A regular Playa plays women . . . a Boss Playa plays life. A Boss Playa is a thinker, a leader, a builder, a moneymaker, a souljah, a teacher and most of all, a Man! I want all my homiez to know there is another level. (sic)''

Speaking about the letter, which is being sold by Moments in Time, Nina described it as the beginning of their ''real'' correspondence.

She said: ''He enclosed a five-page essay on his view of the rite of passage of a young black male in America. And that was the beginning of our real correspondence.''