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 '89. 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," also published in the "voice", brought him to the attention of quincy jones, who hired him to rewrite a screenplay about 1970s harlem heroin dealer nicky barnes. cooper's screenplay was later produced as the film "new jack city" (1991), which he set in harlem after the arrival of crack cocaine in the '80s. it was the first film in what has been called cooper's "harlem trilogy," which also includes "sugar hill" and "above the rim" (cowritten with jeff pollack, the film's director, from a story by pollack and benny medina), both of which were released in 1994. according to "spin" magazine's michael gonzales, the three films had an influence on "hip-hop culture that can be heard in jay-z’s lyrics and seen in p. diddy’s style." cooper wrote all three films after moving to baltimore, maryland, where he still lives. in 2005 cooper made his directorial debut with "blood on the wall$", a 14-part web series starring "sugar hill"'s michael wright.