Yesterday (January 22), it was revealed that legendary screenwriter and producer Barry Michael Cooper passed away at the age of 66. According to Variety, he died in Baltimore on Tuesday, though at the time of writing, a cause of death has not been made public. A representative for Spike Lee confirmed the tragic news, prompting an outpouring of heartfelt messages from both fans and peers. He is survived by his son Matthew.
Cooper co-wrote the 90s classic New Jack City with Thomas Lee Wright, the first film of his “Harlem trilogy.” It would later be followed by Sugar Hill and Above the Rim. The film was Cooper's feature screenwriting debut, and starred Wesley Snipes and Ice-T. They played a gang leader and police officer in the midst of a crack epidemic in Harlem.
Fans Remember Barry Michael Cooper
During a 2007 interview with AllHipHop, Cooper discussed his “Harlem trilogy,” revealing what inspired him. “All of New Jack City, Sugar Hill and Above the Rim comes from me being a part of this neighborhood, this Neo-Harlem Renaissance stuff goin’ down,” he told the outlet. “Growing up, my hero was the anti-hero in Leroy 'Nicky' Barnes. I didn’t want to sell drugs; I wanted to dress like him, I wanted to talk like him, I wanted to have his swag, and I wanted to have his power – but I wanted to do it as a writer."
"I wanted to be a powerful Black man," he continued, "I like this dude’s get-down, but I’m not trying to sell no drugs; I know that’s short-term, I know it!" Before his Hollywood success, Cooper worked as an investigative reporter for The Village Voice from 1980 to 1989. At that time, he reported on the crack epidemic of the mid-80s. He later worked as a producer on Spike Lee’s Netflix series She’s Gotta Have It from 2017 to 2019. Cooper also coined the term “New Jack Swing,” a fusion of R&B and Hip-Hop music in the 80s and 90s.
