Bill Cosby is one strange dude, and that goes way beyond the Cosby show and Jell-O pudding pops. Dr. Cliff Huxtable may have been one of the best fictional dads of all time, but can he make it as a conceptual wizard on a rap album? The term "hell no" immediately comes to mind. 

Regardless of marketing rationale, the Cos is releasing his debut hip-hop album, The Cosnerati: State of Emergency, with the apparent sole purpose of raising social awareness in the rap community. In other words, Bill Cosby will be preaching his social values to you through the mouths of several other rappers and a confusing batch of guest musicians including Eric Clapton, Alicia Keys, LL Cool J, and more.

But... wait. Wasn't this the same Bill Cosby who was brought up on a hurricane of claims that he drugged and raped more than a dozen women? Yes, yes it was. And rather than clear his name in court, Cosby paid these women off. Not exactly the ideal cornerstone for an album about values, morals and beating the demons inside. 

“I don’t like referring to the music as clean,” Cosby said (via Boombox) of the songs from The Cosnarati: State of Emergency. “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.”

In other words, the album is chock full of raging against procrastination, junk food, pollution, disrespect of senior citizens, losing weight and, of course, treating women like objects. If only Will Smith still had a tv show...

In the spirit of journalistic integrity/torturing myself I listened to the entire album (which is set for a Nov. 24 release but is streaming now) twice. The result is precisely as unlistenable and cheesy as you would expect, with cheap Casio beats and highly diluted Death Row effects (I'm sure I heard a talkbox in there) bordering call-to-peace lines like "Bloods will help Crips when they're feeling the blues". The album will undoubtedly be blasted from church youth group speakers, and it would be a good fit for a remake of MC Hammer's "Pray," but outside of that, The Cosnerati: State of Emergency is a hilarious bout of hypocritical fail.

See you next time, eatin' the puddin'.