Harry Allen (born November 27, 1963, in Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York) is an American hip hop activist and journalist ("The Media Assassin") affiliated with the group Public Enemy, and is the director of the Rhythm Cultural Institute.
Although it would still be a number of years before Long Island produced its own stars, Allen was brought into direct contact with hip hop at a pivotal moment in its development.
It was during this time that Allen would flirt with a career in photography, capturing the local scene and visiting New York City stars, as well as a change of scenery after transferring to Brooklyn College - until abruptly ending this hobby in 1986.
[1] Allen's first published article was "one of the first pieces to illuminate the political ideology behind Public Enemy, whose militant demeanor and confrontational lyrics initially confused and baffled the mainstream white press.
[7] Making his first recorded appearance on Public Enemy's 1988 track "Don't Believe the Hype", Allen responds to Flavor Flav's concluding question, "Yo Harry, you're a writer, are we that type?
[14] Allen also founded the Rhythm Cultural Institute in 1992, with KRS-One and others, which moderates and hosts seminars, and has undertaken research into the methodology necessary to create a fitting "Hip Hop Hall of Fame".
[16]Allen hosts an "on-air magazine" on WBAI-NY/99.5 FM called Nonfiction, started in 2003, and he has interviewed guests such as Talking Heads bassist Tina Weymouth, physicists Brian Greene and Lisa Randall, and Black Panther Party activist Kathleen Cleaver.