Jim Belushi wanted to cover Frank Sinatra's 'Fly Me to the Moon' with Tupac

By Megan Armstrong | Last updated 6/15/21

Jim Belushi's tweet about watching the sunrise with the late Tupac Shakur recently went viral:

Every time I watch the sunrise, I think of Tupac.

We once watched the sunrise together after a long night. It was quiet for a second then he looked at me and said “I’m a thug, I prefer the sunrise.”

I really don’t know what that means, but I still live by it to this day.
— Cannabis Farmer: Jim Belushi (@JimBelushi) June 9, 2021

I guess a lot of people don’t remember (it was a long time ago) but Tupac and I did a movie together called Gang Related. I think if he had survived his 20’s he would have had an amazing career as an actor. He was dialed in - it was a pleasure to work with him!
— Cannabis Farmer: Jim Belushi (@JimBelushi) June 10, 2021

People who loved that will really love a new anecdote from the Gang Related set Belushi shared with Entertainment Weekly:

"As prolific as he was as a musician, he had never really heard Frank Sinatra. So I brought him my The Golden Years CD and we listened to it in the trailer. When we hit 'Fly Me to the Moon,' I said to him, 'Come on, man, let's write a song.' We can do 'Fly Me to the Moon' with you rappin,' a blend with an old ballad and your style of rap.'

"He was so impressed by Sinatra. We worked on it in between scenes, and we were talking about it during that sunrise. But he later said, 'I can't do it.' And I was like, 'What do you mean you can't do it?' He said, 'It's too melodically beautiful to interrupt. There's just no way. It's too perfect of a song to mess with.' My response to him was, 'Well, now you get Frank, don'tcha?' We didn't get far into this project, but we toyed with the idea of collaborating. We entertained each other on the set."

Gang Related hit theaters Oct. 8, 1997, starred Belushi and Tupac as corrupt cops dealing with guilty consciouses, but it was one of two posthumous releases for Tupac, who had been murdered in a September 1996 drive-by shooting.