Love Some Spike Lee

So I can probably say that most of my top favorite films are "Spike Lee Joints". It used to drive my mom crazy when I would stumble across some of his more overtly sexual movies but these days I can still appreciate what he was doing. I've never seen She's Gotta Have It or Jungle Fever. But Mo' Better Blues, School Daze, Crooklyn, and Bamboozled are probably my absolute favorite films from Spike. To keep naming a few, you have to respect Malcolm X and Do the Right Thing. I feel like what Spike Lee did in the beginning of his career are the things that Tyler Perry should be doing. Spike Lee gave a voice to the voiceless with his work. Even stretching to the "end" of the Spike Lee era, he captured one of the more prominent events of the 90's with Get on the Bus. Spike also launched a lot of Black actors' and actresses' careers during that time. If Tyler Perry could create a movement around his name like Spike did then Black film would be in good shape.
Not too downplay any of Spike's work during the late 90's and into the millennium, but I really don't feel like his work during that time had the same impact as then. I guess what the Ill Professors were saying about all the controversy around him may have had an effect on the public response to his movies. He Got Game definitely stands out to me. I remember my mom being on her "support Black movies" kick and taking me to see that. I'm pretty sure I didn't get to see a good part of that movie (Spike keeps it raw). But all in all, that movie said a lot about the politics around young Black athletes and Black men in the prison system. Yeah Ray Allen IS NOT the best actor but he added that taste of reality that Spike is good for. I think that film should come up more often when the conversation switches to Spike Lee.
To truly get into to Spike Lee's work would take up a lot of time so I'll just end it on this note. Spike's influence will always be evident in Black films. Hands down.
*Tyler Perry might learn a little something from Bamboozled (just my opinion)*