Copyright 2018 by Mark Jacobson.
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Nowadays you canbuy a copy ofBehold a Pale Horsefrom Walmart for $17.34 with two-day shipping.
Nova at his sidewalk table across from the world-famous Apollo Theater.
But even though hes spent more than half his life as a 125th Street merchant, Bro.
It is a matter of continuity, Nova said.
Hot-selling volumes were touted with ads reading, The God Dam White Man is the title of this Book.
Nova and his fellow merchants carry on the tradition.
It might seem a reach to findBehold a Pale Horsein this company, but Bro.
Nova and his friends have done a brisk business with Coopers book for decades.
Seventeen years after his demise, Bill Cooper retains considerable name recognition on 125th Street.
Behold a Pale Horse,we used to just call it The Book.
Others recalled talks given by the late Steve Cokely, an African-American independent researcherstreet speaker who occasionally referenced Cooper.
Besides, as Bro.
Nova said, Where else were people going to read it?
Back then everyone was in jail.
This had the ring of truth.
the Nation of Gods and Earths.
The movement had been founded in the late 1960s by Clarence Edward Smith, a.k.a.
Clarence 13X, and eventually Father Allah.
For many lyrical assassins, Bill CoopersBehold a Pale Horsebecame a key text.
Everybody gets fucked, ODB told me when we spoke in 2004.
William Cooper tells you whos fucking you … when youre someone like me, thats valuable information.
One of Coopers biggest acolytes was the late Prodigy, who along with Kejuan Muchita, a.k.a.
Havoc, made up the classic NYC hip-hop duo Mobb Deep.
Thats a misquote, the rapper replied.
I read it six times.
I needed to get that shit right and exact before I went out there.
William Cooper wrote what everyone kind of knew, Prodigy said.
It was Prodigy who helped bring Coopers message of widespread mind control to the larger hip-hop audience.
The Illuminati wants my mind, soul, and my body, Prodigy rapped.
Secret societies trying to keep their eye on me.
After Jay-Z picked up the phrase in his 1996 albumReasonable Doubt,the meme predictably blew up.
The William Cooper reference kept coming up in Google searches.
9/11 terrorism, the rapper declares.
Shouting out an RIP to his namesake (Rest in peace, William Cooper!
Originally he rapped as part of a duo, Booth and Ozwald.
Priest said, you should be William Cooper, Kissel recalled.
I didnt know what he was talking about.
I never heard of William Cooper.
Kissel read throughBehold a Pale Horsewith interest.
So Andrew Kissel told Killah Priest, yeah, okay, hed be William Cooper.
Ten years later, even his mother calls him Cooper.
As for Bill Cooper, hes called Milton William Cooper so no one gets mixed up.
He was a patriot, Kissel said of William Cooper.
I like that, because I am a patriot too.
I am a proud American.
This country was supposed to have been built to question authority, to hold the people in power accountable.
Not to bite your tongue.
It was a famous spot.
Tupac got shot there in 1994.
The Quad also offers a boffo view of Times Square from its tenth-floor window.
On this particular night, the tourist hubbub was interrupted.
Protesters were down there, duking it out with the NYPD.
