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Riverside Chats

Brenton Gomez, aka Conny Franko, on Rap, Skateboarding and DIY Culture

Brenton Gomez has a mustache and glasses, and is wearing an embroidered ball cap and tie-dyed hoodie.
The Union for Contemporary Art
Brenton Gomez is known as Conny Franko to friends and fellow Omaha musicians. He's a rapper, skateboarder and program coordinator at the Kiewit Luminarium.

Brenton Gomez is a fixture of Omaha’s rap and skateboarding scenes. You may know him as Conny Franko, the name under which he’s been releasing music for the better part of two decades. He’s half of the hip-hop duo M34N STR33T with producer Adam Haug.

Skateboarding was Gomez’s first love. His experiences street skating as a kid inspired him to spend much of his adult life advocating for skate park construction. In 2018, Gomez and his friends built ramps and rails on the unused tennis courts of Lynch Park on South 20th Street. In 2023, he helped convince the city to use ARPA funds to build an even better skating facility on the site.

When Gomez isn’t skating or rapping, he’s a program coordinator at the Kiewit Luminarium. He’s also an avid reader who cites Gabriel García Márquez as one of his favorite authors.

In this episode, Gomez is in conversation with Michael Griffin about how he forged his own path as a skater, artist and musician in Omaha’s DIY scenes.

Courtney is back in her hometown after graduating from the University of Kansas in 2019 with degrees in journalism and film. While at KU, she was the arts and culture editor of the University Daily Kansan and had a summer internship at KCUR, Kansas City's NPR member station.
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