Barry Michael Cooper, the acclaimed screenwriter best known for his “Harlem trilogy” consisting of the films “New Jack City” (1991), “Sugar Hill” and “Above the Rim” (both 1994), died Wednesday of undisclosed causes. He was 66.
The news was announced by his son and by his friend and fellow writer Nelson George.
Prior to his career as a screenwriter, Cooper was a journalist and music critic who changed the music industry when, in 1987, he coined the term “New Jack Swing” to refer to the then-nascent genre of R&B music fused with hip hop popularized by producer Teddy Riley and acts like Bobby Brown, Kool Moe Dee and Janet Jackson.