Battle rapper turned politician turn Oscar nominee!
Big congrats to one of our very own Bruce Franks Jr, better known as Ooops in the battle rap culture, for his first Oscar nomination.
Ooops shared the exciting news on Twitter that his documentary “St. Louis Superman” was nominated for Best Documentary Short Subject category.
https://twitter.com/brucefranksjr/status/1216730082821099522
The documentary shows the former Missouri State Representative dealing with mental trauma after watching his 9-year-old brother was fatally shot in front of him.
The film, directed by Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan, premiered at the 2019 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, where it won the award for Best Documentary Short. It also received wins at the AFI Docs Festival, the Indy Shorts International Film Festival, the Traverse City Film Festival, and was nominated at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Franks, Jr. became a needed leader during the protests following the police shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson in 2014. He served two terms Missouri House of Representatives starting in 2016 and announced his resignation last spring, citing “mental health struggles and the loss of friends and loved ones to gun violence.”
Many in the film, battle rap and political whelms have shown our boy the much-deserved love and congrats.
https://twitter.com/therealayeverb/status/1216809379372195842
Much love to Ooops and hope he can bring that Oscar award back to the culture!
