Black Cinema Celebrates: Barry Michael Cooper

On January 22, 2025 it was announced that filmmaker Barry Michael Cooper had passed away. As a big movie buff, especially for Black cinema, i for one was definitely sad to hear the news that he died because his films are some of my favorite movies ever. So I wanna take a minute to pay tribute to Barry and all the stories he brought to the big screen.

Barry Michael Cooper was born on June 12, 1958 in Harlem, New York. He grew up in Little Washington Heights in an environment surround by a lot of racial diversity. This diversity would be very evident in the star power of his future works. From an early age Cooper was ambitious to be a writer. He started his career writing music for Hip Hop and R&B acts, including big name acts from the 90’s like Teddy Riley of the New Jack Swing sensational group Black Street. By the turn of the 90’s Cooper had crafted his first screenplay which would be the first major film about the infamous crack epidemic of the 80’s and the 90’s, New Jack City (1991).

Starring Wesley Snipes, Ice-T, Judd Nelson, Chris Rock and Mario Van Peebles, who is also the film’s director, New Jack City tells the story of a group of cops who are on a crusade to bring down the biggest crack dealer in Harlem, New York. The film does a great job at telling the story of the crack -era through the eyes of the people who are responsible for keeping it going, the people who are trying to stop it and those who are the victims of the epidemic.

Cooper’s second major release came in February in 1994 in the form of the urban gangster drama Sugar Hill (1994). Once again starring Wesley Snipes and joined by Michael Wright, Theresa Randle, Clarence Williams III, and Abe Vigoda, Sugar Hill tells the story of the Skuggs brothers, two young men who’s lives have been marred by tragedy due to Harlem street life as one brother clings to the life while the other tries to escape.

By March of 1994 Cooper’s third major screenplay hit the big screen in the form of the film titled Above The Rim starring Hip Hop superstar Tupac Shakur, Leon, Duane Martin, and Marlon Wayans. The film is a urban sports drama about a young man who is a gifted basketball player who has dreams of going to college and playing pro. On his journey to achieve his hoop dreams he is seduced by the street life of Harlem, New York which promises all the luxuries that come with being a basketball star, all the while a fallen local basketball hero tries to mentor our young protagonist to keep him on the right path.

The common thread that all of these films share is that they take place in Cooper’s hometown of Harlem, New York. This would lead to all three films being dubbed his “Harlem Trilogy”. They are all centered around the effects of street life in Harlem, New York and the struggle to escape it by those who hang in the balance. The trilogy is also notable for its inclusion of the then rising Hip Hop culture shown with the stars of these films like Ice-T, Tupac, Flavor Flav, and Fab Five Freddy.

The Harlem trilogy was successful and all three films became classic staples on the landscape of Black cinema. As a writer myself I have been a huge lifelong fan of Cooper’s work. I love how his films incorporated great storytelling and characters with real world conscious messages about the struggles of the Black community. I also appreciate how he gave Hip Hop a platform to shine as well. Barry Michael Cooper has done a lot for not only Black films, but Black music as well. Like his fellow peers of Black cinema of the time such as Spike Lee, John Singleton and Ernest Dickerson, Barry Michael Cooper has contributed a lot to the landscape of Black cinema and the legacy that he has left behind will never be forgotten. Black cinema celebrates Barry Michael Cooper.

~Dedicated to the Memory of Barry Michael Cooper.