Bill Cosby to release hip-hop album

[The Pagemeister]

Bill Cosby to release hip-hop album

Comedian and actor Bill Cosby has turned hip-hop mogul.

The genial 70-year-old star of TV's The Cosby Show is set to release his first hip-hop album, Cosby Narratives Vol. 1: State of Emergency, next month.

No, he doesn't rap.

"I wouldn't know how to fix my mouth to say some of the words," he admitted in an interview Monday.

But he did invite MCs such as Supanova Slom, Jace the Great and Brother Hahz to contribute songs that reflect some of Cosby's own values.

"The value of an education. The value of respecting one's self and … giving [listeners] a chance to raise their self-esteem and confidence," said Cosby, who has been criticized because of his views about what African-Americans should do to improve their lot in life.

His 2007 book Come on, People: On the Path from Victims to Victors was a controversial call for African-Americans to shed self-destructive behaviours.

Cosby has also been critical of hip-hop music as profane and degrading.

His album is "the opposite of what I think is the profanity for no particular reason, the misogyny for no particular reason," he said. "It really looks at the frustration and the anger that a young man may have."

Cosby executive produced the album with long-time collaborator Bill (Spaceman) Patterson and Patterson's partner, Ced-Gee, co-founder of the pioneering hip-hop group Ultramagnetic MCs.

Patterson pointed out that Cosby the comedian was part of the first generation of spoken word.

"He has always understood rap's potential, but he was appalled by the foul language and the misogyny — the way people used a medium that could be used to elevate people, to open their eyes and provoke thought," Patterson said.

The music is a mix of jazz, blues, pop and hip hop, and includes tracks such as Where's the Parade (a celebration of womanhood), Dads Behind the Glass and Get on Your Job.

Cosby said this may be the first of several hip-hop ventures.

"We can do even better," he said. "The next one will be even more cheerleading."

[dragster]

:).....I'd love to hear this one:)

[jimmie ray]

Love the Cos already - but now the possibility of him being the chosen one who will make rap go away forever raises him to a God-like status to me...

[Jahfin]

Love the Cos already - but now the possibility of him being the chosen one who will make rap go away forever raises him to a God-like status to me...

I very seriously doubt Bill Cosby will make "rap go away forever" and furthermore, why should he? As I've said many, many times on this board I'm not a fan of rap but I'm also not so musically ignorant as to say it's "not music" or other such comments that are full of shit. I may not be a fan of it but it's not like I'm being forced to listen to it either. It's a very valid form of music that will continue for a very, very long time to come.

[jimmie ray]

There are situations where we are forced to listen to rap - in stores, in traffic, in movies, in commercials, etc... But I'm not getting nasty about it to anyone, nor am I going to go on and on about it. I do believe that once rap looses it's agression appeal, it will go away. This stuff Cosby plans on doing will chip away at rap's tough exterior, I think.

[Jarlaxle 56]

Definitely going to check this one out, if only to hear what it sounds like. Too bad he doesn't rap himself =\

[Jahfin]

There are situations where we are forced to listen to rap - in stores, in traffic, in movies, in commercials, etc... But I'm not getting nasty about it to anyone, nor am I going to go on and on about it. I do believe that once rap looses it's agression appeal, it will go away. This stuff Cosby plans on doing will chip away at rap's tough exterior, I think.

With all due respect to Bill Cosby, I liken it to Pat Boone (and others) attempts to sanitize rock n' roll for the masses by absolutely massacring classics like Little Richard's Tutti Frutti.

[jimmie ray]

Absolutely. It's not his intention to hurt rap, but to use it's popularity as an educational tool. Remember the lessons that were given on the Fat Albert show, and the gang's funk band would sing about doing good things for people? And look what happened to funk.

[Jahfin]

Absolutely. It's not his intention to hurt rap, but to use it's popularity as an educational tool. Remember the lessons that were given on the Fat Albert show, and the gang's funk band would sing about doing good things for people? And look what happened to funk.

So Parliment Funkadelic and other pioneers of the genre owe their success to Fat Albert? I think not. I also don't agree with what Pat Boone and similar artists tried to do to rock n' roll by cleaning it up for mass consumption. Rock n' roll's true essence was just fine like it was, same thing for rap and hip hop. Trying to water it down isn't going to benefit anyone.

[jimmie ray]

No, I think goody messages like on the Fat Albert show made funk less popular. That's why I think Cosby will hurt rap or hip hop, whatever he's doing.

[Jahfin]

No, I think goody messages like on the Fat Albert show made funk less popular. That's why I think Cosby will hurt rap or hip hop, whatever he's doing.

I didn't ever know there was an attempt by the Fat Albert cartoon to make funk less popular. If so, why? I don't think it had any affect on it's popularity whatsoever. Neither will this hip hop album, nor should it. Do you think rock n' roll, country and other forms of music should also be sanitized for the masses? What about movies and video games?

[DoubleNecker]

Definitely going to check this one out, if only to hear what it sounds like. Too bad he doesn't rap himself =\

Yeah, sucks that he won't rap, but this

is a singing sensation.

[dragster]

rock n' roll for the masses by absolutely massacring classics like Little Richard's Tutti Frutti.

Now there's something that should NEVER happen!

[dragster]

I have mixed feelings on rap and hip hop, but what helps me to dig it is that it's NOT AS CRAPPY as that YMCA disco duck crap we were all forced to listen to at the lights and in shops in the dark ages of rock = the ruddy 80s!! :):)

[jimmie ray]

I can certainly understand why many people don't like Disco, just as many don't like rap or possibly some other type of music. In our wedding video, when they passed around the microphone for people to wish us luck, they chose instead to chant "Disco sucks!" because we hired a band that did alot of Disco songs. We didn't get upset - we watch the video and laugh. That's why I don't get the nastiness toward expressing a dislike for rap, like I'm a bigot or ignoramous or not culturally sensitive.

[Jahfin]

That's why I don't get the nastiness toward expressing a dislike for rap, like I'm a bigot or ignoramous or not culturally sensitive.

I don't believe any of those things, I just don't think it's any more of a detriment to society than rock n' roll or any other form of music. Look back to the early days of rock n' roll and how the establishment tried to have it banned, burned records, wouldn't allow Elvis to be shown from the waist up on TV, etc. That's the same sort of unwarranted reaction rap and hip hop have been subject to. A lot of people put down rap because some of the artists sing about the mistreatment of women and "bling". Well, rock n' roll has also always been about those very same subjects. The very earliest rock n' roll was hardly anything but singing about girls and cars. It was also considered extremely violent and many thought it would lead to the downfall of society so the powers that be tried to have it banished from the airwaves. Sound familiar?

I understand what the Cos is up to but it won't work anymore than Pat Boone and his ilk trying to clean up rock n' roll for mass consumption back in the formative days of rock n' roll.

[jimmie ray]

These points were brought up in the last rap thread here. Yes - each generation criticizes the next on music, work ethics, materialistic wants, etc... and it is sometimes hypocritical. But I maintain that the level of hatred, violence, disrespect, and self importance these days is way over the top. As I'm not a parent, I do little more than some fist shaking and occasional joke about it. If I were a parent, I would be seriously concerned and involved about doing something. Cosby is not trying to dilute anything to make it more appealing to anyone - he sees the appeal is already strong, and has conceded that his best chance of sending a message on morality is to use a currently popular form of music (same as he did with funk music on the Fat Albert show, years ago). Whether I'm right or wrong on any of this, I don't know what more I can say...