New Jack CityWriter Barry Michael Cooper Dies at 66: He 'Helped Define Pop Culture in the ‘80s and ‘90s'

Mar. 15, 2025

Barry Michael Cooper on Sept. 12, 2011.Photo:John W. Ferguson/Getty

John W. Ferguson/Getty

Barry Michael Cooper, the screenwriter behind movies like 1991’sNew Jack City, has died. He was 66.

The Maryland Chief Examiner’s Office confirmed Cooper’s death to PEOPLE on Thursday, Jan. 23, pending an autopsy. His friend Nelson George also announced Cooper’s death in aSubstack posthe published on Wednesday, Jan. 22, citing Cooper’s son Mathew.

According toVarietyandThe Hollywood Reporter, Cooper began his career as a reporter and journalist withThe Village Voicein the 1980s. He transitioned to screenwriting with his debut feature,New Jack City, which starredWesley SnipesandIce-T. Cooper wrote two other movies that released in 1994,Sugar HillandAbove the Rim, all of which are known as his “Harlem trilogy” focusing on Black characters living in N.Y.C.’s Harlem neighborhood, where Cooper was born and raised.

Barry Michael Cooper.Barry Michael Cooper/Instagram

Barry Michael Cooper/Instagram

Cooper is credited as a screenwriter on eight total films, television series and video games, including as a co-writer on video gameNBA 2K16andSpike Lee’s 2017 Netflix seriesShe’s Gotta Have It, a remake of Lee’s debut 1986 feature-length film of the same name. Cooper also worked on the series as a producer.

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He made his directorial debut in 2005 with a movie titledBlood on the Wall$, and he returned to the director’s chair in 2019 to make a short film titledGuilt…He also directed music videos for artists like Tevin Campbell and Grand Daddy I.U. in the 1990s.

Cooper posted a photo of himself onInstagramas recently as Jan. 16, when he published a selfie and wrote the following in a caption: “15 January 2025 - Dr. MLK Day - “Am I My Brother’s Keeper? - Baltimore, Md.”

When Cooper spoke withStop Smilingin an interview published in 2007, he asserted thatNew Jack Citymade a significant impact on hip-hop culture and cinema. “If there was noNew Jack, there would be noBoyz n the Hood, there would be noMenace II Society, because it let the public know, and more importantly let the suits in the studios know, that these movies make money,” he said at the time. “I think it set it off.”

source: people.com