For Sticky Fingaz of Onyx, recently working with New Jersey-based rap superstars Wu-Tang

Clan came as easily as the music born from the partnership. The two crews collaborated on a song that will appear on the upcoming Ride soundtrack.

"It was a collaboration," said Fingaz, whose outfit will release their third album, Shut 'Em Down, on April 17. "Working on the soundtrack was a lot like the tour we did with them, we're on the same vibe."

If the star-studded soundtrack proves anything about the state of rap, East and

West, it stands as an example of how the coasts have been coming

together

lately. Hip-hop music, long-plagued by a nonsensical East and West Coast

rivalry, has slowly turned away from this type of feuding.

"We wanted to have some collaborations that seemed natural and some

that did not appear obvious at first blush, like Eric Benet and the

Roots,

and without regard to geography," said Frank Cooper III, one of the

soundtrack's executive producers.

Slated for a Feb. 17 release, a full six weeks before the movie comes

out on

March 27, tracks on Ride bring together the likes of Noreaga, Nas

and Nature rhyming it up on

HREF="http://www.addict.com/music/Noreaga_Featuring_Nas_Plus_Nature/Blood_Money_

Part_2.ram">"Blood Money (Part 2)" (RealAudio excerpt), the

hard-hitting Wu-Tang and Onyx number

HREF="http://www.addict.com/music/Wu_Tang_Plus_Onyx/The_Worst.ram">"The

Worst" (RealAudio excerpt) and

left-coaster Snoop Doggy Dogg teaming with the Eastsiders on the smooth

funk track

HREF="http://www.addict.com/music/Eastsiders_Plus_Snoop_Doggy_Dogg/Feels_So_Good

.ram">"Feels So Good" (RealAudio excerpt).

"It's about the worst of the worst, meaning the best," Fingaz

said. "We're the worst nightmare for everyone in hip-hop. That shit is fucking right."

The movie, directed by Millicent Shelton (previously best-known for

her

work in music videos), is the story of a group of aspiring youths from Harlem, N.Y., on a bus trip to Miami to shoot a

video,

Cooper said.

"I play a skateboarder named Geronimo, he's a troublemaker,

he

always doing something loud and stupid. Every time you see me onscreen

I'm

fucking shit up. Sonee, he plays a girl-beater," said Fingaz of his and

his bandmate's roles in the film.

Also in the flick are rappers Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg, Cooper said.

Naughty By Nature kicks off the mellower second-half of the album on a

conciliatory note with their five-minute obit to the late Tupac Shakur,

"Mourn You Til I Join You," replete with a choir closing the track,

singing

the refrain over the thumping beat: "We'll mourn, that's what we'll do/

We'll mourn, 'til we're with you."

"This was the easiest thing, people were very motivated. The hardest

part

was dealing with record companies and lawyers," Cooper said. "The

artists

were great, a lot of them had a wrap within two days."

Color="#720418">[Thurs., Feb. 12, 1998, 9 a.m. PST]