I'm not in journalism for the money. I'm in it to tell great stories, to talk about moments of history that are forgotten, and also to get into the nitty gritty of drug policy that you don't really see written about anywhere else.
Anyone who does investigative journalism is not in it for the money. Investigative journalism by nature is the most work intensive kind of journalism you can take on. That's why you see less and less investigative journalism at newspapers and magazines. No matter what you're paid for it, you put in so many man-hours it's one of the least lucrative aspects of journalism you can take on.
The thing that's depressing is I think that the crime is becoming more concentrated and we are moving very quickly towards a two-class society. Income and equality are both becoming gigantic issues. There is less and less money for the states and localities for anti crime programs because we have this gigantic war on terror.
When the federal government announces indictments, weather it's a terrorism indictment or something else, it's almost like it's taken like gospel. My message to anyone who wants to do any of this kind of work is we desperately need a new generation of journalists who do not regard these indictments as gospel. Not to say they shouldn't be fairly reported on, but we need to start asking, "Is this really true?" I hope this can happen more in the future.
This is where hip-hop has become so doomed lately, in this confusion that rappers are street guys. You are not street guys. Get out of that mentality. It's killing hip hop creatively, and it's killing morally. I just think it's a disaster. You're not in the streets and do not be confused about that. You're in legitimate businesses.
