Tracks Just a Part of : Shakur’s Legacy

Tupac Shakur’s posthumous album, “The Don Killuminati,” isn’t the last word from the slain rapper. According to one of his producing partners, Shakur may have left behind a virtual warehouse of material from the celebrated “All Eyez on Me” sessions in 1995.

The fate of that material is to be determined, but already on the way are two projects that will feature tracks by Shakur, who died Sept. 13 after being gunned down by unknown assailants in Las Vegas six days earlier.

The first is the soundtrack for “GRIDLOCK’d,” due from Death Row Records on Tuesday, a day before the Gramercy Pictures comedy starring Shakur and Tim Roth opens in wide release.

The second is the soundtrack for “Gang Related,” which will include at least one original song by the rapper-actor, who co-stars with Jim Belushi in the Orion Pictures drama scheduled for fall release.

But these projects only make a slight dent in the Shakur vaults. Johnny Jackson, who produced and co-wrote one of the four Shakur cuts on “GRIDLOCK’d,” says he and the rapper--whose last three albums all debuted at No. 1--completed more than 150 unreleased songs.

“We were very prolific,” says Jackson, who produced the Grammy-nominated “How Do You Want It” and 10 other cuts on Shakur’s “All Eyez on Me” collection, one of the best-selling albums of 1996. “We’d put down four to five songs a day.

“I saw him work with other producers, and if they took too long to lay down the music, he’d get upset. He’d say, ‘You’re not moving fast enough. I need you to pick up the pace.’ So when me and him got together for ‘All Eyez on Me,’ we were going at it like mad scientists.

“A typical day would go like this: After I’d been there laying down the tracks for an hour or two, he’d come in, sit right down and write three verses in 15 or 20 minutes. Then he’d go into the booth and deliver the vocal--and it was off to the next track. I didn’t realize a rapper could write the lyrics and deliver the vocals as fast as he could. That really amazed me.”

The Shakur-Jackson song on “GRIDLOCK’d” is “Never Had a Friend Like Me,” which was one of the last tracks cut from “All Eyez on Me,” Jackson says.

Why was it axed? Jackson laughs. “The man had so much material, he even confused himself at times about what to put on and what to leave off. It was tricky at times. He had a lot of stuff.”

While Jackson had a productive relationship with Shakur, he claims his dealings with Death Row Records have been less so. This week, Jackson filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court against the label and its distributor, MCA-affiliated Interscope Records Inc., claiming unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for alleged breach of contract and fraud.

Jackson claims Death Row refused to pay him for his work on “All Eyez on Me.” Jackson, known on some album credits as Johnny J, contends Death Row co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight never paid him a promised $10,000 per song, plus royalties, for his efforts.

Knight has been jailed since October for alleged probation violations. He awaits a Superior Court hearing in February at which time he could be sent to prison for up to nine years.

A Death Row press spokesman was unavailable for comment regarding the Jackson suit.

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Yet another Shakur project is due next month, including what reportedly are the first two professional recordings ever made by Shakur, when he was 18.

“Tribute 9.13.96: An Unauthorized Tribute to Tupac Amaru Shakur” will be released jointly by two tiny labels based in Northern California, Arrogant/Bonafyde Records and Koskis Mafia Recordings.

Kendrick Wells, who produced the tracks, says he met Shakur when the rapper was 17 and living in Marin City, about a mile north of the Golden Gate Bridge. “He had a lot of charisma,” Wells recalls. “When I first saw him rap, I knew he’d make something of himself. I didn’t know he’d become our greatest rapper. But I knew he’d make an impact.”

Responding to legal threats from Shakur’s estate, the producers added “unauthorized” to the album’s title, as well as a disclaimer stating that the two cuts in question were the work of “The Infamous MC New York,” the moniker used by Shakur at the time.

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Go Cat Go: Carl Perkins says it’s no mystery why he has performed so rarely in Southern California during the last decade.

“Nobody’s called from out there,” explains the rock ‘n’ roll pioneer, who is sure to play his signature “Blue Suede Shoes” when he appears Tuesday at the House of Blues in Los Angeles.

At 64, Perkins hardly has settled into retirement. He tours regularly in the United States and treks to Europe twice a year.

“I still enjoy it,” he says from his home in Jackson, Tenn. “That hour on stage is still a wonderful experience to me--bringing back memories to some of the older folks with the old Sun [Records] rockabilly songs, and seeing younger people catching on to this kind of music. It’s still exciting, man. I look forward to it.”

He is especially excited about the re-release next month of “Go Cat Go,” an album he recorded last year with an all-star lineup including George Harrison, Paul McCartney, John Fogerty, Willie Nelson, Tom Petty and U2’s Bono.