Bill Cosby Prepares For Hip-Hop Town Hall Meeting Today

» by Danielle Canada October 19, 2009, 12:10pm

Bill Cosby, the man noted for his socially conscious opinion made headlines after announcing that he was releasing a rap album. As previously reported while the album is backed with his blessing, Bill will not rap or sing, instead the Cosnartati Band will lend their vocal and lyrical talents to the project. Tonight Bill and his Hip-Hop band will host a virtual town hall in New York City and preview songs from their State of Emergency album. Ustream will broadcast the event at 7 p.m. EDT (4 p.m. PDT).

The highlight of the 90-minute event will be a performance of select songs by Cosnarati. The songs will be available at digital retailers on Oct. 20, to be followed by the album's Nov. 24 physical and digital release. State of Emergency was produced by Cosby's longtime musical colleague, William “Spaceman” Patterson. The musician/arranger's produced music for “The Cosby Show,” Miles Davis, LL Cool J, Eric Clapton and Alicia Keys. The project recruited three rappers for the project, Jace the Great, Brother Hahz and Supa Nova Slom and focuses on not using profanity, misogyny and materialism to deliver a message.

When asked to describe the music Bill doesn't like to deem it as “clean” instead he feels it challenges listener's morality:

“What I like is what you're not going to do. You're not going to curse. You're not going to put women down. You're not going to put the glory of the gun somewhere. And you're not going to put a whole lot of violence up front like that's the thing that will cleanse you and make you feel better."

To catch Bill and the Cosnarati Band in action tonight, visit Billcosby.com and Facebook.com/billcosby.