My Crazy Oscar-Nominated Year
From battle rapper to activist to state representative to the focus of an acclaimed documentary, Bruce Franks Jr. reflects on his journey
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The Academy Awards are less than two days away, so Bruce Franks Jr. has his acceptance speech ready. He just won’t share it—not unless St. Louis Superman, which profiles the Missouri state representative and battle rapper, wins the Oscar for best documentary short. Franks’ journey from MC to anti-gun-violence activist to legislator, inspired by the killing of Michael Brown and the ensuing unrest in Ferguson, has proven as affecting as it was unlikely: The 28-minute film by Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan won multiple awards on the festival circuit in 2019. Before joining Mundhra and Khan in the Dolby Theater Sunday night, Franks talks to LEVEL about how the documentary changed his life, how he knew when to walk away, and how he got that S on his chest.
–As told to Beandrea July
Legislator and battle rapper are the same job. You take the same exact approach in each one of them. As a state representative, one of the main things you do is debate bills that either get passed or die on the…
