Barry Michael Cooper, writer-producer known for ‘New Jack City’ and ‘Above the Rim,’ dies at 66

Barry Michael Cooper, an investigative reporter-turned-screenwriter known for the films “New Jack City,” “Above the Rim” and “Sugar Hill,” has died.

Cooper died Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner confirmed to The Times. Additional details about his death, including a cause of death, were not immediately available. He was 66.

Matthew J. Cooper, the screenwriter’s son, shared news of his father’s death on social media Thursday. On Instagram the junior Cooper lauded his father as an “author of compassion,” an “icon” and a “super hero.”

“[He] single handedly shifted an entire culture. Was a quiet legend but now the whole world knows your greatness. Admired [by] many. Understood by very few,” Matthew Cooper wrote with a photo of himself hugging his dad. “Proud of you then. Proud of you now. Will never be another.”

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Writer Nelson George, one of Barry Cooper’s journalist peers, mourned the screenwriter’s death on Substack. “Barry helped define pop culture in the ‘80s and ‘90s,” George wrote Wednesday, citing Cooper’s in-depth reporting on music and the crack epidemic.

“Though he lived much of the last decades of his life in Baltimore, he was Harlem to his core,” George added.

Cooper’s writing career began in the 1980s when he served as a music critic for the Village Voice, the storied and Pulitzer Prize-winning New York alt-weekly. As a journalist the Harlem native gained notoriety for articles including “Teddy Riley’s New Jack Swing” and the 1987 cover story “Kids Killing Kids: New Jack City Eats Its Young.” The second, which described Detroit’s violent drug-trade scene in gory detail, would later propel Cooper into the orbit of Hollywood and serve as the basis of his “Harlem trilogy.”

“Two weeks later I was on a first-class flight to Hollywood to meet with Quincy Jones. My head was huge,” Cooper told the Voice in 2007.

Jones, the late and legendary starmaker, tasked Cooper with rewriting a screenplay about 1970s drug lord Nicky Barnes. Cooper’s version of the script, co-written by Thomas Lee Wright, eventually evolved into the 1991 film “New Jack City,” directed by Mario Van Peebles. The film starred Peebles, Wesley Snipes, Ice-T, Allen Payne and Chris Rock.

“New Jack City” grossed nearly $50 million at the domestic box office and helped set the stage for more films about inner-city life featuring rappers in lead roles, Times critic Mikael Wood observed in 2023. Cooper’s film debut also laid the foundation for the next entries in his trilogy.

Cooper and Snipes would later reunite for 1994’s “Sugar Hill,” which starred the latter as a drug dealer seeking to escape the violent lifestyle. Directed by Leon Ichaso, “Sugar Hill” also starred Michael Wright, Theresa Randle and Clarence Williams III.

“Above the Rim,” Cooper’s third film, premiered in 1994 and starred Duane Martin, Leon, Tonya Pinkins, Bernie Mac and even secured rapper Tupac Shakur amid the height of his popularity. The movie, directed by “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” co-creator Jeff Pollack, centered on an aspiring basketball star played by Martin.

In the years after his Harlem trilogy, Cooper’s output seemingly came to a screeching halt. “I got so high on myself that I turned down jobs,” he told the Voice in 2007, adding that he faced trouble with the law and struggled to find work.

He resumed his career in 2005 as a writer, producer and director for the web series “Blood on the Walls$,” which reunited him with “Sugar Hill” star Wright. The series followed a once-in-demand Hollywood producer. Additionally in the 2010s, Cooper worked on the short “Guilt...” and was a co-writer on the video game “NBA 2K16,” according to IMDb .

Cooper returned to mainstream Hollywood when he joined Netflix’s “She’s Gotta Have It,” a 2017 TV reboot based on director Spike Lee’s 1986 film debut. The series, created by Lee, starred DeWanda Wise, Anthony Ramos, Lyriq Bent and Cleo Anthony. The show’s two seasons are still available to stream on Netflix. Cooper wrote three episodes and was part of the producing team.

“Until next time. Harlem’s finest,” Cooper’s son concluded in his Instagram tribute.