RIP BARRY MICHAEL COOPER

Journalist and screenwriter, who helped define the '90s

Barry Michael Cooper died today in Baltimore, according to his son Mathew. It’ll take me a minute to gather all my thoughts, but just wanted to thank him for recommending to Robert Christgau at the Village Voice when I was trying to write for the Riffs section back in 1981. It was a key moment in my career and life. Barry helped define pop culture in the ‘80s and ‘90s with his early reporting on crack, by naming Teddy Riley’s sound “new jack swing,” and writing star vehicles for Wesley Snipes (New Jack City, Sugar Hill) and Tupac (Above the Rim.) Though he lived much of the last decades of his life in Baltimore, he was Harlem to his core.

Barry in the early ‘90s talking about the ‘80s and the street culture that impacted it.

With Barry Michael Cooper two years ago in Baltimore.

Barry wrote the films New Jack City, Sugar Hill and Above the Rim, along with episodes of the She’s Gotta Have It series on Netflix.

After a panel in Harlem with Warrington Hudlin, myself, Bill Stephney, Greg Tate and Barry.