LOS ANGELES Bill Cosby's path has taken him from pudding pops to hip hop.

The 70-year-old has recorded a hip-hop album set for release next month. "Cosby Narratives Vol. 1: State of Emergency" blends the comedian's concepts and stories with a hip-hop, pop and jazz soundtrack.

"I do not rap on any of these things," Cosby told The Associated Press on Monday. "I wouldn't know how to fix my mouth to say some of the words."

Cosby said the hip-hop music he hears is profane and degrading. His album is "the opposite of what I think is the profanity for no particular reason, the misogyny for no particular reason," he said. "It really looks at the frustration and the anger that a young man may have."

The album, assembled by Cosby's longtime musical collaborator Bill "Spaceman" Patterson, contains rhymes provided by guest rappers. The subject matter? "The value of an education. The value of respecting one's self and . . . giving [listeners] a chance to raise their self-esteem and confidence," Cosby said.

Patterson said he was surprised when Cosby first inquired about making a rap record -- until the comedian revealed he wouldn't be the one doing the rapping.

"People started speculating, is he going to rap about Jell-O Pudding Pops or what?" Patterson said. "But he's always been involved in music and he was there for the first generation of spoken word. . . . He has always understood rap's potential, but he was appalled by the foul language and the misogyny -- the way people used a medium that could be used to elevate people, to open their eyes and provoke thought."

Cosby made the album as a companion to his 2007 best-selling book, "Come on, People: On the Path From Victims to Victors."

Another celebrity runs afoul of Bedford, N.Y., zoning rules

BEDFORD, N.Y. -- Richard Gere, like Martha Stewart before him, is running into some zoning hurdles as he tries to put his imprint on the wealthy New York suburb of Bedford.

The 58-year-old actor and a partner have opened a cafe and bakery and have plans for a luxury inn and fine restaurant. But their new 180-foot-long cedar fence may not pass muster, building inspector Richard Megna said Monday.

Bedford's rules call for a fence no higher than 4 feet along the street side of a property, he said, and Gere's is 5 feet tall.

However, Gere's representatives have been trying to win a variance from the town zoning board by landscaping the fence to make it look better, Megna said.

No decision is likely before May 7, he said.

Bedford once turned down Stewart's plan for a barn on her property that would hold tractors, snowplows and a forklift because it was too close to the road.

-- The Associated Press