William Cooper Beware of the Pale Horse

For those of you unfamiliar with the name William Cooper, he has been involved in hip hop since 2001. Most notably, he was an A&R for Loud Records who went on to work on Tragedy Khadafi's "Still Reporting" album in 2003. In addition, William Cooper (aka Booth - like John Wilkes the "Booth" 'cause he kills it with the beats and the rhymes) is a producer of hip hop beats who has serious skills based on what I've heard on his debut album. Another fact that surprised me about Cooper is that he actually formed the Black Market Militia, a Wu-Tang Killa Bee offshoot group consisting of himself, Killah Priest, Hell Razah, Timbo King, and Tragedy Khadafi. Of those of you who haven't copped the Black Market Militia's self-titled album from 2005, I strongly suggest you get on that shit. If you like Sunz of Man and any other Wu-Fam related music, then Black Market Militia will be right up your alley.

If you ARE familiar with Black Market's album, then William Cooper's "Beware of the Pale Horse" will be a pleasant surprise for you in the midst of all the smoke, mirrors, and BULLSHIT we have surrounding us in the game today. Initially, you'll be excited by the track listing which boasts features from some of the illest emcees in the game including: Killah Priest, Hell Razah (of Sunz of Man), 9th Prince (RZA's brother from Killarmy), Nature (of the Firm), Ill Bill (of Non Phixion and La Coka Nostra), and Kool G. Rap. I was very impressed that this Lithuanian, Sicilian, and German emcee from New Jersey was able to collect so many ill rappers to join him on this record.

I was definitely excited about the features, but when I turned the record on and heard the intro track, "The Day of Light," I had a really good feeling about how the album would turn out. Cooper goes in hard on this soulful beat, which he produced. Truly an excellent way to introduce himself on his own record, droppin' knowledge about his current state of mind over a chopped up vocal sample looped over a "roll a blunt and zone out" type of beat. Let's just say that the production rarely let me down as I proceeded through the rest of the album. The beats are truly impressive; hard hitting, crisp, with amazing sampling of soul singing over melodic orchestral loops. I feel like the album had to have been created in the Golden Era during the mid '90s. Surprisingly, this shit was put together recently. GO FIGURE!!!

The lyrical content is pretty heavy. For those of you Soulja Boy, dance in the club, posing as a thug mutha fuckas, this album just may be over your head. With all the concepts on this album, William Cooper stays true to who he named himself after. Milton William Cooper, the radio host, author and political activist that he named himself after, was best known for his conspiracy theory book titled "Behold A Pale Horse." William Cooper the emcee, consistently challenges societal norms, government policies, and discusses a variety of conspiracy theories throughout this album similar to the writings that ultimately got Milton William Cooper killed by the police in 2001. Amazingly, he has an uncanny ability of maintaining serious, dense subject matter, but not coming off as preachy or overbearing to the listener. This is a feat that is rarely accomplished by rappers (to their detriment), which makes this album quite refreshing despite the nature of his rhymes.

The one downside I found with this album is its length. Fourteen of the eighteen tracks are less than 3 minutes long and the album runs for a total of 44 minutes. I feel like the album was very consistent, with excellent production, quality lyrical content, and great features, but it left me wanting even more because of its short length. In addition, William Cooper's lyrics are on point throughout, but I just wished he had some more inner rhyming patterns to vary or switch up the flow a little on some of the tracks.

At the end of the day, "Beware of the Pale Horse" is a good example that quality, "real" hip hop is still accessible if you just make the effort to find it. Who ever said that you can't have thought provoking lyrical incite over some ill, head-nodding beats??? William Cooper successfully proved that you can be intelligent, hard, and hip hop all at the same time. FUCK WHATCHU HEARD!!!

Money Miz gives William Cooper's "Beware of the Pale Horse" a  3.5 / 5.0 

You can get more info on William Cooper on his official MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/WILLIAMCOOPERBMM

You can also follow him on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/william_cooper_

Be sure to watch William Cooper's amazing music video for his track "One Roll of the Dice" below. The visuals in this video are truly amazing!!!