Harry Allen (journalist)

Harry Allen
Born	November 27, 1964 Brooklyn (Bedford-Stuyvesant), New York
Occupation	journalist, activist
Subject	Public Enemy, hip hop

Harry Allen is a hip hop activist and journalist ("The Media Assassin") affiliated with the group Public Enemy, and is the director of the Rhythm Cultural Institute. He grew up in Freeport, Long Island.

Harry Allen first met Carlton "Chuck D" Ridenhour in 1982, when the two took an animation class at Adelphi University in Garden City. Ridenhour, also a member of hip hop group Spectrum City, introduced Allen to a clique who congregated around university radio station WBAU/90.3 FM on Monday nights (although not all were students), and, in Allen's own words, "looked at hip-hop scientifically - as an analysis of its parts - and took it completely seriously, like I did." This included Flavor Flav and Terminator X (who, along with Chuck D, would form the core of Public Enemy), Spectrum City founders Hank and Keith Shocklee (who, along with Chuck D and Eric "Vietnam" Sadler, would form PE's legendary production team, The Bomb Squad), future Def Jam President Bill Stephney, and Andre "Doctor Dré" Brown, best known for later co-hosting Yo! MTV Raps.

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. In 1983, WBAU/90.3 would be the first radio station to play Run-DMC's seminal classic "Sucker M.C.'s" and possibly the first to interview the Hollis, Queens trio that would go on to be hip hop's first platinum act. 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.

...
Wikipedia