Man on a ‘Mission’ soundtrack

LOOKS like Jamie Foxx’s days as BFF to Hollywood’s favorite couch-jumping A-lister are over. And forget TomKat. Tom Cruise and hip-hop’s man of the moment, Kanye West, are the town’s newest, strangest power couple.

At a pre-Grammy party earlier this week at Hollywood’s Avalon club, thrown by Rolling Stone magazine and Verizon Wireless, West ran through a mini-set that included his live staples “Heard ‘Em Say,” “Diamonds” and “Touch the Sky.” Then he pulled Cruise onstage for a shared moment in front of the crowd’s camera phones. Fellow attendees Jay-Z and Paris Hilton didn’t get such preferential treatment.

Cruise seldom -- if ever -- shows up for music-industry shindigs. The probable explanation: West has recorded two new songs for the soundtrack of Cruise’s upcoming “Mission: Impossible III,” the theme song and one called “Impossible.”

The outspoken rapper-producer picks up the reins from U2, which reinterpreted Lalo Schifrin’s ‘60s TV show theme for the first “Mission: Impossible” film in 1996, and Limp Bizkit (who retooled it again for the sequel in 2000). Cruise solicited West’s services and refused to take no for an answer.

“When you see an artist you just respect and he’s so talented, I was like, ‘Man, I’d love to see what he’s gonna do with this,’ ” Cruise told MTV News recently. “It’s Kanye West and it’s really extraordinary. I looked at him and said, ‘Man, you killed it.’ ”

As the film’s director, J.J. Abrams, explained to AllHipHop.com, West’s recruitment was part of a larger effort to redefine the third “M:I” installment. The rapper, Abrams said, aided his goal of creating “a movie that is familiar, but absolutely brand new.”

Expect the song “Impossible” to appear on Island Def Jam’s repackaging of West’s multi-platinum-selling album “Late Registration,” coming in May.

Such enhanced versions of previously released albums have helped Mariah Carey (“The Emancipation of Mimi -- Ultra Platinum Edition”), Usher (“Confessions [Special Edition]”) and Jessica Simpson (“In This Skin -- Collector’s Edition”) to sell millions more records.

“Not just any artist can do this,” points out Geoff Mayfield, charts director at Billboard magazine. “The only ones who can talk record companies into spending money to reissue their albums are the ones who are making money.

“Unless, and even if, you have the status of someone like Mariah or Usher or Kanye, there needs to be a marketing hook -- like writing a movie or TV theme song.”

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Hopes for a hybrid hit

Colombian pop chanteuse Shakira and hip-hop producer-Fugees member Wyclef Jean holed up in a Los Angeles studio this week, collaborating on a new Caribbean-inflected/salsa-hip-hop hybrid song Epic Records plans to release at some point in the next month.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” says Epic President Charlie Walk, who attended several recording sessions. “Shakira insists on getting behind the mixing board for every song she does. That’s great, but it can take a long time. Finishing this song is like giving birth to a baby.”

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That wandering ‘I’

What a difference an “I” makes.

It must have seemed like the only logical title for a Johnny Cash biopic: “I Walk the Line,” one of the country singer’s most famous compositions. Further, the song ponders the redemptive power of love -- an issue specifically addressed in the film.

Problem was, that title had been used for a 1970s rural drama starring Gregory Peck. Director James Mangold had to settle on a more emphatic abbreviation of the song’s title for his movie starring Joaquin Phoenix: “Walk the Line.”

In March, Cash fans will be able to buy the “I Walk the Line” DVD (Sony DVD). Directed by John Frankenheimer (“The Manchurian Candidate”), the film stars Peck as a Southern sheriff intent on bringing a moonshine runner (Ralph Meeker) to justice. Early career Cash gems including “ ‘Cause I Love You” and “Hungry” are heard throughout.

The DVD arrives at a moment when the public appetite for all things Cash remains strong. “The Legend of Johnny Cash” has surpassed the 1-million sales mark, and the “Walk the Line” soundtrack (with Phoenix singing as the Man in Black) has sold more than 400,000.

And “Walk the Line” has grossed more than $110 million.