Hey, Hey, Hey! Cosby's a Rapper Now

Bill Cosby, long a vocal critic of urban street culture and its gangsta rap, is holding his enemies close. His next record, State of Emergency, will be nothing but hip-hop, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. The album will address sober issues faced by America's black youth, such as teen pregnancy and drugs, but steer clear of profanity and misogyny. No word yet on a release date.

The 70-year-old has had a prodigious recording career as a comedian, and the rap foray will be his 35th album. While Cosby frequently criticizes the state of African-American culture on television, his new attempt has the Inquirer recalling the rhymes he laid over Beatles and Motown covers on 1968's "atrociously psychedelic" Sings Hooray for the Salvation Army Band! (More Bill Cosby stories.)