Barry Michael Cooper, ‘New Jack City,’ ‘Sugar Hill’ and ‘Above the Rim’ Writer, Dies at 66

by

Barry Michael Cooper, the creator of the “Harlem Trilogy” movies – including “New Jack City,” “Sugar Hill,” and “Above the Rim,” as well as the originator of the New Jack Swing genre, passed away. He was 66 years old.

It was confirmed by Nelson George, Cooper’s friend, writer, filmmaker, and a previous collaborator at The Village Voice, that Cooper passed away in Baltimore, Maryland. At the time of writing, the reason for his demise remained undisclosed.

In the 1980s, Cooper kicked off his career as a journalist, contributing significant articles to The Village Voice and Spin Magazine. Subsequently, he shifted his focus towards writing screenplays that were inspired by the crime and local culture of his hometown, New York. His Harlem Trilogy of crime dramas, produced in the 1990s, are considered iconic Black films and have had a profound impact on hip hop music and culture.

Raised in Little Washington Heights, Harlem, New York, and spending time in Esplanade Gardens as well, Cooper found inspiration from the vibrant literary, music, fashion, and sports scenes of his hometown. However, he also acknowledged the devastating influence of crack cocaine on Harlem, likening it to a divide between ‘Before Crack’ (BC) and ‘After Crack’ (AC). In an interview with Stop Smiling in 2007, Cooper explained that the arrival of this drug brought about a significant transformation in Harlem.

In the early 1980s, following a year at North Carolina Central University where he immersed himself in the New Journalism movement, Cooper embarked on his journalistic career. He contributed articles to The Village Voice, which was then highly influential culturally, under the guidance of renowned music critic Robert Christgau. In an interview with Rolling Stone in March 2024, Cooper recounted a conversation he had with Christgau in January 1980 about a new music genre emerging from the Bronx. “I told Bob Christgau that there was a type of music called rap music. This would be groundbreaking,” Cooper said. “He doubted me. I insisted, ‘There’s a group called Funky 4 + 1 — they have a song called ‘That’s the Joint.’ It’s incredible.’ Two days later, he asked me to visit The Voice office. ‘You were right,’ he admitted. ‘This is something special.’

Back in October ’87, while I was contributing articles for The Village Voice, I penned a piece on the rising star, Teddy Riley, the pioneering R&B producer and singer. The article, titled “Teddy Riley’s New Jack Swing: Harlem Gangsters Nurture a Musical Genius,” painted a portrait of an artist skyrocketing to fame. Not only did it highlight his meteoric rise, but it also introduced the world to the term “new jack swing,” a genre that would become synonymous with Riley and his collaborators’ unique sound.

Apart from music journalism, Cooper is recognized for his powerful investigative work. In 1986, he authored the impactful feature story “Crack: A Tiffany Drug at Woolworth Prices” in Spin Magazine, one of the initial nationwide reports on the devastating effects of the crack epidemic.

In 2015, Bob Guccione Jr., founder of Spin, expressed his skepticism about Cooper’s story, stating it was so extraordinary and dissimilar from anything he had previously encountered that he suspected it might have been fabricated. The tale was excessively compelling, cohesive, populated with vibrant characters, and featured immediate, catastrophic consequences. It appeared unrealistic, as lives, families, and an entire community were being destroyed in a matter of weeks rather than the typical span of years associated with drug addiction. People were resorting to selling their belongings and even themselves to obtain their next fix, which seemed implausible.

In December 1987, he penned an article titled “New Jack City Eats Its Young” for The Village Voice. This powerful piece detailed the escalation of street drug dealers in Detroit who had amassed millions due to the crack cocaine crisis.

As a passionate gamer, I found myself captivated when Cooper delved into the escalating corporate side of drug trafficking, particularly the crack epidemic. This intriguing perspective caught the eye of film producers, who aimed to create a movie based on the life of notorious drug kingpin Nicky Barnes. The original script for this movie was penned by Thomas Lee Wright, but Quincy Jones, impressed by Cooper’s Spin article, recruited him to give it a fresh take.

Through Cooper’s modifications, particularly swapping heroin for crack as the central theme, the script morphed into “New Jack City,” marking his initial screenplay. Produced on a budget of $8 million and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1991, the film showcased Wesley Snipes as Nino Brown, the merciless head of the Harlem street gang, the Cash Money Brothers, who amassed a formidable empire by dealing crack. “New Jack City” was both critically acclaimed and commercially successful, earning nearly $50 million at the box office, and has since become a lasting cultural phenomenon.

Without ‘New Jack’, there wouldn’t be ‘Boyz n the Hood’, ‘Menace II Society’. These films wouldn’t have been made because it showcased to both the public and studio executives that such movies could generate profit. Cooper stated this in an interview with ‘Stop Smiling’, suggesting that it sparked a trend.

In his next venture, Cooper teamed up with Snipes for the 1994 crime drama “Sugar Hill.” Penned solely by Cooper and directed by Leon Ichaso, the movie revolved around a pair of drug-dealing brothers from Harlem’s Sugar Hill district. Critics weren’t particularly fond of “Sugar Hill,” often criticizing it for being overly similar to “New Jack City.” However, the film still managed to perform well at the box office.

In the cinemas, three months following the release of Sugar Hill, Cooper’s third movie titled Above the Rim made its debut. This film, penned by Benny Medina, garnered significantly more favorable reviews under Jeff Pollack’s direction. The cast included notable figures such as rapper Tupac Shakur, Duane Martin, Marlon Wayans, and Leon. The story revolves around a promising basketball player navigating the drug gangs of Harlem, marking it as the concluding chapter in Cooper’s Harlem Trilogy. Remarkably, this movie was also a commercial hit.

Following his initial wave of achievement, there was a gap of several years until Cooper could embark on another film production. By then, he had moved to Baltimore, and in 2005, he made his directorial bow with the indie movie titled “Blood On The Wall$“.

Cooper’s most recent endeavor was transforming Spike Lee’s 2017 television series, “She’s Gotta Have It,” into a Netflix production. In this project, Cooper served both as a producer and scriptwriter, penning down three episodes.

Read More

2025-01-23 08:25