Spike Lee blasts rappers

Hollywood director Spike Lee has told students that popular music portrays blacks in a negative light.

“I’ve always felt you can feel the progress of African Americans by listening to their music,” Lee said.

“Some of this gangsta rap stuff, it’s not doing anybody any good. This stuff is really dangerous.”

Speaking to an audience of more than 400 students at Brown University in Rhode Island, the director of films including Do The Right Thing and Malcolm X said some black adults equated education, good grammar and good grades with “being white”, but when he was growing up, those things were seen as positive goals.