We asked some of today's biggest hip-hop producers to add their two cents to State of Emergency, Bill Cosby's upcoming disc of consciousness-raising rap (no, really!)
will.i.am (The Black Eyed Peas, Common, Nas)
''I'd take a scene from The Cosby Show when they were working with Stevie
Wonder and make a song out of it. When Stevie Wonder sings 'Jammin' on a
one, j-jammin' on a one, jammin' on a one, j-j-jammin' on a one' — remember that? That's when samplers were like, 'Woooow!'''
Dallas Austin (Janet Jackson, Leona Lewis)
''I'd probably get Bobby McFerrin to do all the beats with his mouth,
then add live instruments. I think it has to be something really off the
map. Harmonicas and blues guitars, then let Cosby do his thing over it.''
Swizz Beatz (DMX, Busta Rhymes, Beyoncé)
''I would stick to what they know him for, which is Fat Albert. I would
take that [theme] and flip it — then, for the verses, make it kind of
dreamy, and go back to the hook with a bunch of his ad-libs. It would be
crazy. At the end, I'd put 'Hip-hop lives, hey, hey, hey!' You know
hip-hop lives when you have somebody like Bill Cosby doing a rap album.'' — Leah Greenblatt and Simon Vozick-Levinson
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