Sheldon Taylor's Souls of Black Notes

  Barry Michael Cooper.... You may not know his name but you know his (pen) game. Pages torn from memories of his mind would spawn Nineties classics "New Jack City" (1991) "Sugar Hill" (1994) and "Above The Rim" (1994). Cooper was the creative force behind this Harlem film trilogy penning their screenplays inspired by his time of coming up in New York in the 1970s.   Years before Hollywood came calling, Cooper sealed his legend penning articles in the Village Voice and Spin Magazine.  Cooper hit my radar during his prolific period (for me anyway)between 1988-1990 thanks to joints like his May 1989 dope Big Daddy Kane  piece   ("Raw Like Sushi"): "Big Daddy Kane is a cool head on a dangerous body. He's the greatest rapper of all time---maybe. He is what he is and that's what scares people." He'd already written a few potent narratives I would read later.  Cooper's February 1986 Spin piece  "Crack"  transported r...

  Picture a festive night without the typical posturing, ice-grilling and high-post profiling. It's New Year's Eve 1990 at Club Spotlite. You're playing the back with your third Long Island Iced Tea. You're kicking it with the waitress so drinks are on the house all night. A couple hours til her shift is up and you both are outta here. Fly girl Uniqua is holding court at the bar, gyrating to the music as her silky bob keeps time with the beat. The heat radiating from her barely-there outfit is twice as hot as the three-man crew rocking the stage tonight. The music is crazy and the lead singer's riffs are transforming the spot into a church revival. You pan the crowd and check Nino Brown getting hype in the middle of the dance floor among the regular folk without a bodyguard in sight. All of a sudden you hear the opening bars of your favorite jam and you rush the floor like a dope fiend at an open drug bazaar....         ...