Could Hip-Hop see an epic rap battle between two titans of culture, knowledge and entertainment?
Michael Eric Dyson strongly suggested during a recent outing that he would be recording an album that would respond to Bill Cosby’s upcoming rap album, State of Emergency.
“There’s nothing worse than a comedian that’s trying to be serious on a certain level. That could be hazardous to your career. And to your health,” Dyson, 49, told AllHipHop.com.
The relationship with the 70-year-old Bill Cosby and Hip-Hop is one that extends years back, but most recently he has criticized the more negative aspects of the genre, in particular gangsta rap.
Prior to that he was unapologetic in a speech about the poor and those that adopt certain negative behavior as the norm.
Whether or not they spar lyrically remains to be seen, but they have wrangled via the written word.
In Bill Cosby’s 2007 book Come On, People, he chastises gangsta rappers saying that that artists and corporations promote the N-Word, degrade women and attempt to normalize deviant behavior.
In 2006, Dyson responded to Cosby’s notions in the award-winning book Is Bill Cosby Right?: Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind?, where he looked at what he considered an “assault on the Black poor.”
Cosby is an accomplished musician whose harmonious achievements didn’t go unnoticed to Dyson.
“Bill Cosby’s made some great albums. Some of the stuff he’s done in jazz pioneering has been incredible,” admitted Dyson, who also confessed to being interested in what his peer had in store.
“I actually am interested in hearing what he’s got to say, if he is rapping himself or does he have guest rappers or if he’s going to do his thing…because he’s a funny dude,” Dyson said.
Sources told AllHipHop.com that Cosby would deal with drug abuse, high school dropouts, and teenage pregnancy on State of Emergency, his first rap foray.
Of the album title Dyson said, “That doesn’t sound too comedic.”
Both men have a storied history of service in the community, but neither album has a specific release date at press time.
