The best friend of Gavin Long, aka Cosmo Setepenra, tells how a Marine became a sovereign citizen and, eventually, a mass murderer.">
Long visited two barbershops with a stack of self-published tomes and a camera clipped to his shirt to record his proselytizing.
I want to give you something that you cant lose, something they cant take from you, Long stressed to a few distracted barbers (one kept his headphones in) and patrons at the His & Hers Barbershop.
Money was worthless compared to his message.
You got bills but you gotta get knowledge You hear what Im saying? he asked.
The ad hoc congregation remained sedentary with only one man chiming in, I hear you, bro.
Im out here for yall, Long told them before seeing himself out of the glass doors. Peace. Salute.
Then Long tried to inspire a few believers at the Classics Designs Barbershop.
He told everyone there that he was in these streets to serve.
Theyre telling you theres not men like me out here, he said. Yeah, we out here. They just never promote it.
He flouted his beef with the mainstream and submitted that he needed to be out there like a soldier or else his message would get muzzled.
They want to put some homo stuff up there They want a softy out there. They dont want a mans man on there on the TV.
Thats the real terrorist. The alpha male. Umm-hmm. They dont want that life.
Longs inchoate message was part of his belief that Americans hail rebels like George Washington and Nat Turner or Malcolm X but dont actually fight to maintain their freedoms today. Long was a kind of self-made Renaissance man who maintained a steady presence on his blog, podcast, and videos, doling out advice from how to get justice to how to get laid.
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After dispensing his books, the Kansas City native crashed at a Dallas home belonging to the mother of his best friend, a rapper who goes by Feva.
Police was killing our black brothers, he told Feva. Bro, they killing us, and they killing you, too.
And on the same Sunday Long went on the rampage, taking out Baton Rouge police officers Matthew Gerald, 41, Montrell Jackson, 32, and Brad Garafola, 45, before he was felled by responding copshe made a strange appeal to his cousin: He kept calling her and in a message he told her, Some shit happened in the military that I cant tell you.
That shit fucked with me a lot, Feva told The Daily Beast in an exclusive interview. Like what does he mean by that?
Long went on to tell him, We got to stop protesting and stand up.
For Feva, Longs strange warning to his friend coupled with the spiraling state of mind before his massacre makes no sense.
I dont feel like the police killed my brother, Feva said. I felt like he went looking for fucking trouble, you feel me? I feel like he brought that upon himself.
And yet, Long wanted Feva to keep getting knowledge by watching his cache of online videos.
He kept telling me Download my videos off YouTube, Feva said.
When Fevas mom bid Long goodbye she received an earful.
She told him, Good luck! Feva said. He told her Dont tell me good luck. I dont need good luck when I have knowledge.
So Fevas mother told Long: OK, be careful.
But Long didnt want to hear it.
He said, I dont like that word either. Dont say, Be careful. Say, Stay vigilant. Stay courageoushe was saying weird shit.
Both Feva and Long were raised by single mothers in South Kansas City and both attended Grandview High School.
They were more like brothers though.
Im closest to him, Feva said. Were the same person.
Indeed, Feva and one other friend named Mike (aka Mafia) along with Gavin Long were a tight trio who were known as The Three Kings.
Long, before he became Cosmo Setepenra in his African Spirituality path, adopted the moniker Gee Money.
Everybody called him Gee Money and when we got older he went by Cosmo Setepenra, Feva said.
Long landed on the name because it was like him being part of the life. The hustler was gone and born again was a shepherd who wanted to preach knowledge and peace.
He became conscious, Feva said. Gee Money was when we was in the streets.
He also shed the bodybuilding image, wouldnt get his hair groomed, and purged all his belongings.
He also stopped lifting weights because he wanted to be natural.
And changing his name was part of the process.
He changed his name to Cosmo, which is from the universe, Feva said.
After being kicked out of high school, Feva pursued a music career.
Feva remembered Longs metamorphosis.
He showed me his Muur [Nation] ID and how he was indigenous to America, Feva, who is closely connected to his Nigerian ancestry, said. He kept telling me I need to get one.
A far departure from the young kid he recalled protecting from the hard Kansas City streets.
Ive known a lot of guys who might be crazy enough to do what he did but Gavin was never that type of person, Feva said. Gavin was the one that was straight on ahead that.
In 2005, Long had already earned a high school diploma and enlisted in the Marines.
Military service records for Long obtained by The Daily Beast show he rose to the rank of sergeant. Long served in Japan and did a tour of duty in Iraq from June 2008 to January 2009. Like Micah Johnson, Long received military training. As a Marine, Long was stationed at Camp Pendleton, California, where he completed infantry training to master weaponry.
No wonder he was an undefeated gamer.
So many people would line up, Feva recalled of his pals skills in the shoot em up console games Halo and Call of Duty. We all tried to line up and play him and he would play for money and he would take everybodys money.
I never seen him lose. Ever.
When Long played he made sure to undress his opponents before he capped them dead.
It wasnt just that he wouldnt lose, Feva noted. He would make a fool of people. Hell run around and kill four or five different people and he was just ultra fucking smart.
He took those wits to the battlefield and then upon returning home Feva said his lifelong friend had changed.
Hes not the same Gavin as growing up, Feva said. After that Marines shitthat shit changed him dramatically; he was more secretive and shit.
The mere fact that his brother in life had decided to keep his distance was a bad harbinger.
He didnt want me to be around him and thats not Gavin, Feva said. Thats my bro but he was keeping his distance.
In some ways, they were both beyond trying to live the thug life and embracing African Spirituality, is how Feva calls it.
Long had made a trip to Africa and it was much more about finding his identity than it was to discover his roots.
He just wanted to be part of the motherland, Feva said.
Long was also repelled by the Nation of Islam, Feva says. He was not a Muslim and he hated Christianity because he thought both religions were just watered down versions of the pyramid texts.
Longs greatest beef was with Uncle Sam stripping him of his birthright, Feva claims.
He was on some madness at the government because he felt like they took away his rights to know who he really was, Feva said. He wanted to be African.
While Africa may have inspired Long to shed his government name and passport for sovereignty and a dashiki, some old habits never died.
The self-published author and life guru who lists his bona fides as Mental Game Coach and Freedom Strategist also called himself an Alpha Preneur.
Online, Long blared a kind of alpha male machismo on his Convos with Cosmo blog.
In a July 5 post titled 13 Traits in a Man No Woman Can Resist the spiritual guru becomes a pick-up artist, offering bulletproof results if men followed his checklist. You will be able to get any woman on this earth, no matter how big your bank account may be or the amount of material possession you have.
In number seven Be Territorial the ladies man bluntly advises that to court a woman Sometimes you might need to invade her independence.
He goes on to instruct the reader to protect your female turf. For example dont let other guys hit on her and make it clear you are together when you go out.
Last but not least, Cosmos 13th tip was to have good, satisfying sex.
If you really want mind-blowing sex then you need to start heating the fireplace before you put the wood in. That means mastering the art of foreplay and if you learn this tactic shell be a wild-animal everytime.
To the average Joe the advice may seem a tad hyped, but Feva said Cosmo was a player in real life.
He gets bitches, Feva said, without mincing words. I get a little bit. But I never had the amount of bitches he had.
Feva learned about all kinds of Cosmos conquests in the military and most recently during his spiritual journey through Africa.
Once back after his two-year sojourn, they talked for hours. Long talked about how he was held up in Uganda by a man on a motorcycle armed with an AK-47 who shouted Come with me! He also mentioned seeing the pyramids in Egypt and brought home some of their sacred teachings.
In our religion we dont believe in color or any difference in color, Feva said, adding the belief structure celebrates deities of all kinds including sex, nurturing, and others, and also prides itself on respecting all living organismseven insects.
Long told Feva We need to wake more people up, he remembered. He was also saying You can use negative energy and turn it into positive energy.
And then Feva comes to find out the killer who was neutralized by Baton Rouge cops after killing three of their brothers was his brother Long.
Our beliefs are about the total opposite, Feva said, still grappling with the reality that it was his friend who murdered cops. He felt he had to stand up or something like that.
Vengeance of any kind was forbidden.
The spirituality, it aint about violence, he said. The whole thing he taught me about this religion he taught me peace and that this African Spirituality isnt about a life for a lifeits not what he taught me, its not in the books that we read.
And while Feva says hes experienced his fair share of cops who have gone too far with him at routine stops he says many are good, hardworking patriots.
In that aspect I dont agree with that shit at all. There aint no reconciliation at this point.
Feva is still trying to get passed the I-dont-believe-this-shit-happened stage. He only learned about the tragedy through a barrage of text messages from friends.
People were texting Whats Gavins last name? and They talking about Gavin!
And I was wondering Did he do some stupid shit, Feva remembered.
Feva admitted he cried like a little girl the moment he learned his brother had died.
I had to stop myself from crying because my nephew and my girls were with me and I didnt want them to see me like that.
When the tears dried, he realized all the innocents Long allegedly gunned down.
It didnt seem right, and it still doesnt seem real to me.
This shit dont happen in America, he tried to tell himself. Yeah, cops might be killing people, but niggas is killing way more niggas than the police killing.
Whatever revolutionary mark Long hoped to leave, Feva is unimpressed and admits it only caused more anguish.
You talking about you getting even. But you killing other people with families too. Just killing upon killing.
Read more: www.thedailybeast.com
