ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Barry Michael Cooper, the journalist and screenwriter behind films like "New Jack City" and "Above The Rim," died this week. The Harlem native chronicled New York City's highs and lows. He was 66 years old. NPR's Isabella Gomez Sarmiento has this appreciation.
ISABELLA GOMEZ SARMIENTO, BYLINE: Barry Michael Cooper started his career writing about music. In 1988, he coined the term new jack swing in a profile of musician and producer Teddy Riley for The Village Voice.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MY FANTASY")
TEDDY RILEY: One, two, three, swing it. Aw, yeah, baby. You're my fantasy. And I want everybody...
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
BARRY MICHAEL COOPER: It was always bigger than the music. It was about the culture. It was like an extension of Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream. It was an extension of Malcolm X or Hajj Malik Shabazz's "By Any Means Necessary."
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: That's Cooper, speaking to NPR when close friend Andre Harrell died. The legendary record producer was another leader of the new jack swing era. Later in the '80s, Cooper turned his writing chops towards investigative deep dives on the crack cocaine epidemic. One of the first reporters to cover the crisis, he also used his expertise to co-write the screenplay for 1991's "New Jack City."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "NEW JACK CITY")
ALLEN PAYNE: (As Gerald Wells) Don't forget about what we talked about before at Frankie's. I'm definitely going to be the next king, you understand?
CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS: (As Kareem) Yo, Keish (ph), I've seen that boy somewhere before.
VANESSA ESTELLE WILLIAMS: (As Keisha) Oh, really?
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: The story about a Harlem drug tycoon was the first film of what would become Cooper's "Harlem Trilogy." It was followed by "Sugar Hill" and later "Above The Rim," which famously starred rapper Tupac Shakur.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "ABOVE THE RIM")
TUPAC SHAKUR: (As Birdie Sheppard) That's not very polite. I wish you good luck, you don't wish it back to me? It's damn near rude.
DUANE MARTIN: (As Kyle-Lee Watson) Good luck, Birdie.
SHAKUR: (As Birdie Sheppard) Thanks a lot.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Later in his career, Cooper wrote and directed the film "Blood On The Wall$" and worked on the Netflix adaptation of Spike Lee's "She's Got To Have It." Isabella Gomez Sarmiento, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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