How New Jack City Changed Hip-Hop Cinema
“Am I my brother’s keeper?!”
Hip-hop and cinema weren’t always as closely related as they are now.
While the 80s gave us classics like Beat Street and House Party, opportunities for rappers to credibly cross over into that world were few and far between. That is, until 1991, when New Jack City came to theatres nationwide on March 8th.
New Jack City was the springboard for a new generation of Black movie stars, writers, and musicians, and its legacy lives on in Hip-hop through lyrics, song titles, business names, and more.
Co-creator Barry Michael Cooper (also responsible for Sugar Hill and Above The Rim) transitioned earlier this year, which got me thinking about the film’s impact.
Its legacy runs deeper than most consider, especially if you weren’t old enough to appreciate the movie when it first hit the scene. So today’s edition of the SNOBHOP newsletter is dedicated to all the New Jacks out there who love New Jack City.
I. BACKGROUND
Barry Michael Cooper was initially tapped to rewrite an old script about Harlem drug kingpin Nicky Barnes that had yet to be picked up by a studio. 1 However, Cooper's rewrite ultimately became the script for New Jack City after infusing aspects of his background of growing up in Harlem and including notes about the youth he picked up via investigative work while writing for the Village Voice.
The film's title came from slang he picked up from conversations with his brother, who would often refer to someone green or unschooled in the game as a “New Jack.”
Fun Fact: Barry Michael Cooper also coined the term “New Jack Swing,” the emerging sub-genre of music pioneered by Teddy Riley while writing a piece about him.
On the directorial front, New Jack City was directed by Mario Van Peebles, who also stars as one of the detectives working alongside Ice T’s character.
This was Van Peebles' directorial debut, marking a major milestone in his career, which followed in the footsteps of his father, Melvin Van Peebles, the Godfather of Black Cinema.
When New Jack City debuted in the spring of ‘91, the film was highly anticipated. It made $22.3 million in just three weeks at the box office, and with the success came polarizing views and outright outlandish stories.
For instance, just a few weeks after New Jack City’s release, a sequence of events known as the Rampage in Westwood led to the film's removal from theaters.
The “rampage” was made up.
More or less, the truth was that Westwood residents didn’t want the film (or its patrons) in the area.
After a minor skirmish unrelated to the film occurred outside of the theatre, residents used their influence to blame the movie for inciting violence (according to Director Mario Van Peebles, they hadn’t even seen the film).
Despite that event, New Jack City became a major success, and to this day, it still holds a special place in pop culture.
II. A Cast of “New Jacks”
Ironically, a large part of New Jack City’s legacy is that many New Jacks created it.2 Moreover, it was the first of what many consider a golden era of Black cinema.
Consider this…
While rappers had occasionally appeared in commercials or on TV, New Jack City was the first time a rapper appeared in a major Hollywood film in a serious dramatic role.
After that, the door was open for Cooper’s next two films and for other rappers to appear in major movie roles.
That said, here are just a few of the stars whose trajectory was changed forever by New Jack City:
Ice-T
In the early 80s, Ice T broke onto the West Coast scene. After a few successful singles, he dropped his debut album, Rhyme Pays. In the years to follow, he enjoyed a successful stint as a rapper before deciding that he should hop into the world of film.
According to Ice T, he thought the NJC role could tank his career because his album “Original Gangsta” dropped the same year as the film, and his character in New Jack City was a cop. 3
As those familiar with Ice T’s career know, the irony is that this film was the birth of his second entertainment arc.
Wesley Snipes
If you’re mentioning the greatest Black actors (and really actors overall) in the 90s, you have to say two names. The first one is Denzel, and the other is Wesley Snipes, hands down.
Just a year prior, Snipes had performed in a handful of critically acclaimed films, such as Gangs of New York and “Shadow” in Spike Lee’s Mo Betta Blues.
He was even slated to be in another Spike Lee film, Jungle Fever, just months after the release of New Jack City.
While those films laid the groundwork for an incredible 90s run, his performance as the main antagonist in New Jack City was the big-screen performance that took him to the next level of his career.
Chris Rock
Before NJC, Chris Rock was on the comedy scene killing - and even dropping an album as we got closer to the 90s. He wasn’t a stranger to movies either because of his relationship with Eddie Murphy (his mentor at the time), who helped him score a role in Beverly Hills Cop II.
In addition, in 1988, he scored another small role in Keenan Ivory Wayans' directorial debut, “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka.”
These were the building blocks of Chris Rock’s acting career, but his breakthrough role, which eventually won him his first on-screen award, was his portrayal of an addict named Pookie in New Jack City.
III. Music Culture
In addition to its impact in film, Hip-hop musicians and Black culture at large gladly embrace New Jack City—likely because the story is familiar to many in the culture and because it embraces the New Jack Swing sound.
Even into the 2010s and 2020s, references to Nino Brown and New Jack City can still be found throughout culture.
A. NEW JACK CITY SOUNDTRACK
The New Jack City soundtrack was also key for breaking new acts like Color Me Badd, whose song “I Wanna Sex You Up” doubled as the lead single to the New Jack soundtrack and their debut album.
B. CMB & THE CARTER
At the film's beginning, we are introduced to Nino Brown and the CMB, the Cash Money Brothers.
If that name sounds familiar, it should be because it (allegedly) inspired the name of one of hip-hop’s most successful record labels: Cash Money Records.
Moreover, early in the film, we see that the CMB also ran a “sophisticated” operation.
The project building the CMB hollowed out (and kicked out upstanding citizens from) to run their empire was known as The Carter.
Much like CMB allegedly inspired Slim and Baby to create a record label of the same name, Lil Wayne was also inspired and eventually adopted the name for arguably the most important studio album of his career: Tha Carter (1-6).
This name is also a double entendre because Lil Wayne’s last name is Carter.
The content of Wayne's first two Carter albums perfectly matched the aesthetic and general vibe of New Jack City. The series is still running, and Wayne promises that Tha Carter VI will be released this year.
IV. The Harsh Realities
"This film is anti-drug, anti-violence, and anti-fratricide right across the board." - Wesley Snipes, NY Times
New Jack City was widely respected (and critiqued) for its portrayal of the crack epidemic.
What made it special is that viewers weren’t only exposed to the glitz and glamor of Nino & The CMB, but they also followed Chris Rock’s character from addiction to rehab in a gritty, detailed way.
Moreover, while many glorified Nino’s character as the boss, Cooper and the team showed various aspects of Nino’s character and organization that not even the most unsavory person would respect;
Nino backstabbed his best friend, used children as a human shield in a shootout, and when the police finally caught him, he got on the stand and told on everyone.
The court system cut a deal with Nino and ultimately showed that the legal system would make a deal with the devil if it could “serve the greater good.”
And Ice T’s character Detective Appleton was deeply affected by the crack era on a personal level, having lost a parent who was senselessly gunned down by a gangbanger (who we eventually find out was a younger Nino).
EPILOGUE
New Jack City is still prevalent in today’s culture, with Gen Z’ers finding the film and doing reaction content.
Just recently, rumors of a reboot started circulating, with many saying that some of the key stars in the Power universe could take over the mantle.
While many will say that New Jack City glorifies drug dealing, I think Mr. Cooper did a great job of showing the rise and fall of an organization built by an unsavory individual and how it impacts every facet of society in a real way.
If you’ve never seen New Jack City, renting it online is only a few bucks (and it’s free on Tubi).
Check it out this weekend, and ask yourself… Am I my brother’s keeper?
One.
A really in-depth conversation with Barry Michael Cooper tells the entire story of how the script came together (Stop Smiling)
Word to Ice T, who said this in an interview with The Source [The Source]
Ice T references this in multiple interviews, including Drink Champs
👊🏽❤️
Love that movie!