Writing
Barry Michael Cooper
Born — Died
1958-06-12 — 2025-01-22
Place of birth
Harlem, New York, USA
Known for
Writing
Credits
7 titles
Barry Michael Cooper (June 12, 1958 – January 22, 2025) was an American writer, producer, and director, best known for his screenplays for the films New Jack City (1991), Sugar Hill (1994), and Above the Rim (1994), sometimes called his "Harlem Trilogy". Cooper began his writing career as a music critic for The Village Voice, serving later as an investigative reporter for the New York City alt-weekly from 1980 to 1989. He wrote "Teddy Riley's New Jack Swing: Harlem Gangsters Raise a Genius" for the Voice in 1987 and is credited with naming the then-new hybrid of R&B and rap. That same year, Cooper's article, "Kids Killing Kids: New Jack City Eats Its Young", published in the Village Voice, …
Known for
7.7A documentary series about pop and rock albums that are considered the best or most distinctive of a well-known band or musician or that exemplify a stage in the history of music.
Classic Albums
1997
7.1Story of a promising high school basketball star and his relationships with two brothers, one a drug dealer and the other a former basketball star fallen on hard times and now employed as a security guard.
Above the Rim
1994
6.7A gangster, Nino, is in the Cash Money Brothers, making a million dollars every week selling crack. A cop, Scotty, discovers that the only way to infiltrate the gang is to become a dealer himself.
New Jack City
1991
5.7In the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, the Mafia steps in when a drug dealer quits his partner and brother to lead a straight life with his girlfriend.
Sugar Hill
1994
7.0Director Spike Lee chronicles Michael Jackson's early rise to fame.
Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall
2016
NRInside the Label explores prominent hip-hop record labels that transformed the music business in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. The series includes eight 1-hour episodes that reveals the power players responsible for many of the chart-topping artists and albums from this time period.
Inside the Label
2016
Film credits
2010s · 1 titles
Series credits
7.7A documentary series about pop and rock albums that are considered the best or most distinctive of a well-known band or musician or that exemplify a stage in the history of music.
Classic Albums
1997
NRInside the Label explores prominent hip-hop record labels that transformed the music business in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. The series includes eight 1-hour episodes that reveals the power players responsible for many of the chart-topping artists and albums from this time period.
Inside the Label
2016
Behind the camera
7.1Story of a promising high school basketball star and his relationships with two brothers, one a drug dealer and the other a former basketball star fallen on hard times and now employed as a security guard.
Above the Rim
1994
6.7A gangster, Nino, is in the Cash Money Brothers, making a million dollars every week selling crack. A cop, Scotty, discovers that the only way to infiltrate the gang is to become a dealer himself.
New Jack City
1991
5.7In the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, the Mafia steps in when a drug dealer quits his partner and brother to lead a straight life with his girlfriend.
Sugar Hill
1994