Barry Michael Cooper, the screenwriter behind the iconic 90's films 'New Jack City,' 'Sugar Hill,' and 'Above the Rim,' has passed away at the age of 66. Cooper, a native New Yorker, began his career as a journalist and music critic, writing groundbreaking pieces on the crack epidemic and the emergence of new jack swing. His work caught the attention of film producers, leading to his successful foray into screenwriting.
Barry Michael Cooper , the acclaimed journalist and screenwriter behind the 90’s classic “ Harlem Trilogy ” of films-- “ New Jack City ,” “Sugar Hill,” and “Above the Rim”-died this week in Baltimore . He was 66. Journalist, filmmaker, and cultural critic Nelson George, a close friend and former colleague of Cooper at The Village Voice, announced Cooper’s death. Cooper was a native of New York and his birthplace steered his career as a writer.
“Though he lived much of the last decades of his life in Baltimore, he was Harlem to his core,” wrote George. Cooper started his career as a journalist and music critic in the 1980s, penning investigative pieces and music reviews for publications including The Village Voice and Spin Magazine in New York. Cooper was behind Spin Magazine’s 1986 investigative feature storyone of the first national reports on the surging and devastating effects of the crack epidemic. The following year, Cooper wrote “Teddy Riley’s New Jack Swing: Harlem Gangsters Raise a Genius,” a feature about R&B producer and singer Teddy Riley. The piece, writes The Hollywood Reporter,” and coined the term “new jack swing,” a title that defined the genre of music associated with Riley, his contemporaries, and collaborators. Cooper’s investigation of the nation’s crack epidemic laid the springboard for his entry into screenwriting. His work caught the eye of film producers who wanted to make a movie about drug kingpin Nicky Barnes. Cooper later served as the co-writer for the 1991 crime film “New Jack City,” starring Wesley Snipes, Ice-T, and Chris Rock.Sixteen years later, Cooper looked back on the success and influence of “New Jack City,” in a 2007 interview with culture magazine “Stop Smiling.”Menace II Society,’ because it let the public know, and more importantly let the suits in the studios know, that these movies make money,” Cooper told the publication. “I think it set it off.” Copper would go on to pen the screenplays for “Sugar Hill” (1993) and “Above the Rim” (1994). The films, including “New Jack City” would “define an era of Black cinema”Cooper’s nearly 40-year career spanned writing and production credits in film, television, video games, and journalism, including NBA 2K16, the 2017 Netflix series remake of Spike Lee’s 1986 film, “She’s Gotta Have It,” and a New York Times feature on legendary Harlem fashion designer and haberdashe
Barry Michael Cooper New Jack City Harlem Trilogy Screenwriter Journalist Crack Epidemic New Jack Swing Film Industry Baltimore
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