Stabbed grime singer’s music spreads online
ALBUM SENT TO MAJOR RAP STARS BY GRIEVING FRIENDS
Crime Reporter FRIENDS of knifed rapper Frankie Cooper are determined his music will be heard.
Under the alias Franco Caine the 22-year-old was become a respected rapper on Newcastle’s underground grime music scene.
Following his death an 15-track album entitled ‘Hard Food’ has been released online. All proceeds will go to pay for a memorial bench.
His friends are now sharing his tracks online and promoting his album in the hope that he can still make it big after his death.
And best pal Ryan Witherspoon said the stabbing had robbed Newcastle of a huge talent.
The 25-year-old told the Chronicle: “His music will always be alive. He brought something different to grime. All his music was real, he was telling it how it was. His music was second to none.”
Ryan, who raps under the stage name Ryza, is now working hard to get Frankie’s music heard. And he has been sharing his friend’s tracks with some of the UK’s biggest grime artists via social media.
“The grime music scene in Newcastle is quiet,” he said. “But we are going to keep promoting Franco’s music
“We have been followed by Wiley and P Money. I shared P Money Franco’s music and he said; ‘That’s hard.’ It’s just starting to get off the ground.”
Photographer Arron McGregor, who produced many of Franco’s music videos, is convinced his friend would have made it big if his life had not been cut short.
With track titles including On the Block, Person of Interest, and North East Streets, Frankie’s lyrics talk about life growing up on the streets of Newcastle and tell stories about the city’s unseen gang culture.
“The stuff he raps about was to do with his life, it’s all about gang life in Newcastle,” said Arron. “He had quite a hard life and spent a lot of time away from his family, and that comes out in his music.
“A lot of the stuff he talks about in his music did actually happen.
“He made an album called Hard Food and all his friends want that to be heard.”
Frankie died in hospital five days after he was knifed in a broad daylight attack in Newcastle city centre.
Horrified shoppers witnessed the lunchtime stabbing on Princess Square. After the attack Frankie stumbled back to his flat, in nearby Bewick Court, where he collapsed.
Arron learned of his friend’s death via posts on Facebook.
“Me and my mum just started crying when we heard,” he said. “We just couldn’t believe it, it was such a shock the way it happened.”
In the run-up to the trial at Newcastle Crown Court, Frankie’s friends repeatedly shared his music.
Earlier this year Jason Heslop write on Franco’s Facebook page: “Listen to this every morning and most nights love ya to bits Franco never forget u kid.”
Frankie spent some of his teens in London, and at the age of 15 performed live on stage with grime superstar Skepta.
And he remained was determined to make it big in the music or acting world.
In an acting agency profile online, he describes how he went down the wrong path as a teenager, but had used his experiences creatively.
“I’ve studied acting as a child in a drama school up until my early teens as my environment took over and could say I ventured down the wrong path,” he explained.
“I have been involved in real life dramas as far to say my life has almost been like a film.
“I want to use my past experiences as something positive and think it improves my capabilities in the acting world I can relate to people from all walks of life and suffer from mild autism, I see this as a benefit because I feel detached socially to a certain extent and have to hold myself as a different person within different social groups.
“I have had experience live from singing live as a child to stage shows to performing with Skepta at age 15.
“I have 100% confidence and I’m a hard-working and determined individual.”