“Sugar Hill” was also written by Cooper as was 1994’s “Above The Rim,” which starred Tupac Shakur and Duane Martin. Cooper would continue to write and work in media, though the “Harlem Trilogy” of ...

Barry Michael Cooper, the screenwriter behind the influential “Harlem Trilogy” of films New Jack City, Sugar Hill and Above the Rim and the man who coined the term New Jack Swing, has died. He was 66.

“Above the Rim,” Cooper’s third film, premiered in 1994 and starred Duane Martin, Leon, Tonya Pinkins, Bernie Mac and even secured rapper Tupac Shakur amid the height of his popularit ...