After the tragic events that resulted
in 18-year-old Michael Brown being
gunned downed by the Ferguson
County Police district, battle rapper
Bruce “Oops” Franks has been at the
forefront of the protesting to make
sure that these types of injustices
don’t happen again. We caught up
with him on a Sunday afternoon to
chop it up with him and to get his
take on the events and the initial
aftermath, and to ask him how he
feels about the current state of battle
rap as well as to discuss his own
personal brand.
Joe Agee: Why do you feel that
Mike Brown’s murder received
more media recognition than
other young black males that have
been murdered recently?
Ooops: I believe that the location
played a huge factor. This time,
someone was murdered in the
suburb of St. Louis city, but it’s
a different atmosphere out there.
Not a lot of murder happens
in Ferguson; more like petty
crimes, auto theft. So when a
young black male was killed
in this type of manner by the
police, the nation caught notice.
to throw on some sweatpants or
basketball shorts and go jogging
through the neighborhood
where I pay taxes and not have
people negatively judge me. But
I am constantly being racially
profiled for who I am. We as a
people need to focus on making
this wrong a right. There
are many different types of
ethnic groups that are out here
protesting along with us, so we
can’t be conditioned to think
there’s a difference between
black-on-black crime and whiteon-white crime.
Joe: How do you feel about the
message that’s being portrayed
in music and do you feel that it
brings negative influence into the
media?
Ooops: In the early ‘90s we
had N.W.A who said, “f**k the
police” and it didn’t seem like
there was much of a problem,
but with the heightened media
presence in today’s age the
things that we are rapping
about seem to get much more
negative press.
Joe: Tell us about your picture that
has caught the attention of major
media outlets such as Twitter,
Facebook and Vibe?
Joe: Have any of the notable
Missouri-based emcees or battle
rappers been out there protesting
and what kind of role have they
played?
Ooops: The meaning of my sign
is that I am an educated black
man and that I should be able
Ooops: I want you to put it
just like this: I don’t care about
none of these cats that’s not
ooops
DONT SLEEP
out here and are not fighting.
Anyone who has been out here
for publicity, f**k y’all. [sic] But
yeah, T Dubb O of Street Status
has been out there protesting
non-stop. He’s always been
against police brutality; f**king
with the police as they pull
people over and telling them,
“Y’all f**king with people who
pay taxes instead of chasing the
real criminals.” If you haven’t
come out and supported the
protest, f**k you and your
thoughts. B Magic came out
and showed love at the protest.
You know that’s the fam, so you
know he had to come out and
show love.
Joe: OK, let’s turn to battle rap.
Do you feel that battle rappers can
make music?
Ooops: I’ll put it to you like
this, back in 2006 I was signed
to [Ludacris’ label] Disturbing
Tha Peace. I have had songs on
TV shows; two of my singles
have been theme songs to shows,
plus I’m a freelance songwriter.
So I’ve done my thing and
have made over $150,000 as an
unsigned artist, so I’m used to
this. A few of the battle n***as
are making good music, like Tsu
Surf. Verb makes good music,
but Aye verb is lazy as s**t. I
don’t like Aye Verb personally,
but you can’t deny his talent —
but he doesn’t have the passion
for this. Imagine if he had
Danny Myers’ passion, he would
be one of the greats. B Magic
makes good music. Big Kannon
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