Police said Eric Mangrum, 28, of Hempstead, L.I., was dead on arrival at St. Vincent's Hospital, while the 27-year-old rapper - whose real name is Ezekiel Jiles - was in stable condition with chest and abdomen wounds.

Cops said the two cars collided yesterday around 3 a.m. on West 22nd Street and Sixth Avenue - an area known for its thriving nightclubs.

Sources said the mustachioed, wild-haired Jiles - who lives on East 102nd Street with his parents - and three others were on their way to the popular Cheetah club when their white Jeep Cherokee collided with a four-door sedan carrying four men and a woman.

Jiles - a member of the hip-hop group The Diplomats and a longtime friend and associate of the popular rapper Cam'ron - was wearing an ornate diamond-encrusted brooch worth $250,000, one police source said.

Cops said Jiles and his companions argued with the occupants of the other car, and the dispute escalated to shoves and punches, then to gunplay. Cops said they found a 9 mm handgun in a garbage container as well as several 40-caliber shell casings.

Initial police reports said about two dozen gunshots were fired.

Police were looking for the second car - described as a small gray or silver sedan - and its five occupants.

A call to Jiles' record Label, Roc-a-Fella, was not immediately returned.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said one of the cars may have cut the other one off, and that the two groups may have known each other.

"This may have been more than just road rage," he said.

But Lt. Stephen Camardese of Manhattan South Homicide later described the encounter as "just a spur-of-the-moment occurence. Then they decided to settle it."

Neighbors said the rapper's parents are devout Christians, and that Jiles had once been a camp counselor. They said he had grown up with Cam'ron and that he and The Diplomats - an offshoot hip-hop band - had released their first album, "Diplomatic Immunity," just last month.

The group is described by its publicists as "an army of Harlem soldiers."

One neighbor said Jiles was "going places with his career," and may have been targeted by jealous rivals.

"He's been doing the rap thing for a while, playing around," said the neighbor, Efrem Gonzalez, 45. "I guess when you start making money, people envy you."

Others said Jiles had recently become busy with his music career and that he had occasionally left his 9-year-old son with his parents while he was touring.

"He never got into trouble, because he has very strict parents," said neighbor Aminata Diagne, 37. "They are wonderful parents. They go to church a lot."

Gladys Charles, a secretary at the Jiles family's Hope Church on West 104th Street, said the Jileses were not too keen on their son's nascent rap career.

"Being Christian, they didn't want their kid in the music business. But it was something he enjoyed, so they supported him. They loved seeing him happy." [Blacks should realize who promotes the destructive rap "music" sub-culture:  Rick Rubin, Lyor Cohen, Bill Adler et al.]

New England cops said earlier this year that Jiles, Cam'ron and other members of The Diplomats were involved in a shootout on a Massachusetts interstate on Feb. 26. They said several shots were fired from the rappers' tour bus and that two men in The Diplomats' entourage had been arrested.

A sign on the Jiles' apartment door read: "If you think you're going in the wrong direction, please remember God allows U-turns!"