Harry Allen, Hiphop Activist and Media Assassin, has written about race, politics, and culture for nearly thirty years, in such publications as VIBE, The Source, The Village Voice, The New York Daily News, and others. As an expert covering hip-hop culture, he's been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, on National Public Radio, MTV, VH-1, CNN, the BBC, and other information channels. His motto is "educate and excite, inform and infuriate."

Widely known for his long-time association with the seminal band Public Enemy, and for his “cameo” on their classic record, “Don’t Believe the Hype,” Allen has also toured the country screening his early photographs of the band, shot before their recording career. This program, Shooting The Enemy, also features a number of images that were recently acquired by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture for their permanent collection.

From 2003-2015, Allen hosted radio station WBAI-NY's NONFICTION, an arts show featuring interviews with guests as varied as Hayden Planetarium head Neil deGrasse Tyson, sculptor Richard Serra, Black Panther Party activist Kathleen Cleaver, and director John Landis.

During the 2016-2017 academic year, Harry Allen was a Nasir Jones Hiphop Fellow at the Hiphop Archive and Research Institute. During the Fellowship, Allen presented his work on The Hypertext, a documentary podcast and live presentation that analyzes classic hip-hop recordings lyrically and instrumentally. Learn more about The Hypertext and watch the recorded stream of Allen's colloquium talk, The Hypertext: Analyzing the Data and Assembly of Hiphop Musical Recordings for Narrative Purposes, HERE. 

A recent New York City transplant, Allen lives near Washington DC with his wife, Zakiya. Follow him @harryallen and check out his blog Media Assassin at harryallen.info.