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Showing considerably better musical taste than he did when he tapped Limp Bizkit to update the Mission: Impossible theme for its last installment, Tom Cruise has chosen Kanye West to do the honors for MI:3. The noted hip-hop expert lauds West, via Access Hollywood:

"As a fan of Kanye's work, I was thrilled at the prospect of him contributing his talents to 'M:i III.' We wanted to take this installment of 'Mission' to the next level and Kanye's music definitely added to accomplishing that goal. As we've done with the film, what he's done with the 'Mission' theme is going to blow people away," Tom Cruise said.

Lest anyone think that Cruise wields a rubber-stamp for his soundtrack supervisors, the star/producer proved his bonafides by hanging around Rolling Stone's pre-Grammy party (featuring West) last night and offering profound insights into the music being performed:

During Kanye's brief break from rapping, A-Trak showed the crowd why he's won all of those DJ trophies.After some technical difficulties, Trak put his weight on things, slicing up Lil Wayne's "Go DJ" record while the crowd marveled.


"Damn," said a very impressed Cruise, who was standing on a balcony above the stage surrounded by people such as Stephen Baldwin. "I remember when they used to just do drum solos."

When West returned to action, John Legend sat at a keyboard in the middle of the stage and begin playing the chords to "Heard 'Em Say." It was totally stripped down at first. With no drums or bass, West rapped over Legend, who played the piano and sang Adam Levine's chorus.

"Great song!" Tom Cruise said aloud while the two G.O.O.D. Music teammates played.

"Wow!" Cruise yelled when "Heard 'Em Say" came to an end.

Later, Talib Kweli joined West onstage to perform "Get By," and 'Ye took time out to let the crowd know that he had some high-profile friends in the audience, including Jay-Z.

"I have to stunt," West said, "because this doesn't happen every day."

He then introduced Cruise, who was a little shy but smiled and waved to everyone when the spotlight and camera-phone flashes hit him. Kanye closed with another bread-and-butter hit, "Jesus Walks," leaving Tom to say "un-f—-ing-believable!" as he filed out with everyone else.

Having nearly exhausted his daily ration of superlatives, Cruise retired backstage, where he could be seen cornering anyone unlucky enough not to escape to the safety of a dressing room, expressing how he hadn't been this "amped up" by music since Kenny Loggins "perfectly f—-ing nailed" the rush of flying a fighter jet on "Danger Zone."