DATE: Wednesday, October 8, 1997            TAG: 9710080043

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   91 lines

CO-STARS REMEMBERS TUPAC SHAKUR'S FINAL DAYS ON SET

THE LAST DAYS OF Tupac Shakur were very much on the minds of Jim Belushi and Lela Rochon, co-stars of the slain rapper in his final movie, ``Gang Related.''

``There was an eerie feeling on the set,'' Rochon said. ``I really didn't think we'd get the movie finished. But that was just my feeling. Tupac was arrogant about it, usually. He said he'd be OK. But he told me, too, that he expected to die young.''

Shakur, whose death has fed a cult following, died on Sept. 13, 1996, after he was shot while riding in a car in Las Vegas.

Shakur, who was 25, was the rap superstar who used anger and gunplay in his songs and made millions from it. His self-proclaimed ``thug life'' resulted in jail time on an assault charge and repeated violent episodes.

His critics pointed out that his records praised violence and misogyny. The San Francisco Chronicle wrote before his death that ``life has given Shakur ample warnings about the need to separate himself from the daring, brutish persona he effects for his rap act. He is a purveyor of the violence-for-excitement mentality that seems determined to consume him.'' The statement was prophetic.

``Gang Related,'' which opens in theaters today, was finished just days before his death. The set, according to the actors, revealed a lighter and more focused Shakur than his public image. Rochon, who was elevated to stardom by ``Waiting to Exhale,'' said that ``Tupac was a sweetheart - and so charismatic on camera - but, in my opinion, he expected a youthful death. I joked with him a great deal. He was a little guy. I said to him, `Tupac, how could your little self rape anybody? Assault anybody? You just don't look the type.' He told me that he didn't. That he never did that.''

He was convicted, though, in 1995, of a sexual attack on a woman.

``He said to me, `Lela, you're too square. You need to hang out with me.' But, frankly, I was scared to hang out with him. I saw him only on the set.''

What was she scared of?

``I was scared of getting shot,'' she answered, flatly.

``It was such a waste. I used to talk to him on the set about his future. I told him that he was in the best position anybody could be in. Denzel Washington and Wesley Snipes are stars, but they're getting older. Who else was this photogenic and just 25 years old? I kept telling Tupac that he was in perfect position to take over for Denzel and Wesley. He was just the right age. I don't think he heard me. You always wonder, when something like this happens, what else you could have said.''

``Gang Related,'' contrary to the title, is not a film about gangs. It concerns two crooked cops, buddies Belushi and Shakur, who apprehend drug dealers, kill them, take their drugs and then dismiss the murder with the label ``gang related.'' When one of their heists goes awry, things escalate to comic proportions. It has more plot twists than expected.

Belushi is no stranger to sudden, tragic deaths. His brother, comedian-actor John Belushi, died of a heroin and cocaine overdose in 1982. Jim Belushi was in New Zealand doing a TV commercial when he heard of Shakur's death.

``I was shocked, but not surprised,'' he said. ``That isn't really logical, but that is the way I felt. He seemed bent in that direction, but yet he was directly on target in the movie. He and I had a great chemistry going.''

Belushi remembered, though, that there was a fight on the set.

``On the first day of rehearsals, Tupac was late. On the second day, he didn't show up at all. On the third day, he was late again. I told him, `Apparently you're not committed to this project. Apparently, you don't take making this movie seriously. If you're late tomorrow, don't bother to show up the next day, because I won't be here.'

``We got into a heated argument. He said he was late because he couldn't get a parking space. His bodyguards moved up, but he told them, `This is between Jim and me.' He told me that he was, indeed, committed to this film and, later, he proved it. He was there, after that, in every way.''

Shakur was born in New York City in 1971, just weeks after his mother, Afeni Shakur, was released from jail. He attended the High School for the Performing Arts in Baltimore and it was there that he began performing rap. His album ``Me Against the World,'' which sold millions, included such prophetic songs as ``If I Die 2Nite'' and ``Death Around the Corner.''

But at one time, he claimed there was a soft side to him. ``I'm the kind of guy who is moved by Don McLean's `Vincent,' '' he once said.

His acting career included acclaimed roles in ``Juice,'' ``Poetic Justice,'' ``Above the Rim'' and ``Gridlock'd'' before his final role in ``Gang Related.''

There was a suggestion, late in his life, that perhaps the rap persona was an act. In one of his last interviews, with Vibe magazine, he said ``Thug life is dead to me. If it's real, let somebody else represent it, because I am tired of it. I represented thug life too much.''

Belushi has a more pleasant memory. ``I introduced Tupac to the music of Frank Sinatra on the set while we were filming `Gang Related.' He was not hip to it, but he went wild. He listened to Frank a lot. He planned to do a rap version of `Fly Me to the Moon.' '' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

Tupac Shakur... KEYWORDS: INTERVIEW

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