{"id":7555,"date":"2012-07-31T12:00:47","date_gmt":"2012-07-31T16:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/?p=7555"},"modified":"2012-07-31T08:57:19","modified_gmt":"2012-07-31T12:57:19","slug":"two-years-ago%e2%80%a6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/?p=7555","title":{"rendered":"Two Years Ago\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2026I stopped blogging.<\/p>\n

At that point, I’d been running the <\/a>Media Assassin<\/a><\/em> site<\/a> for 2\u00bd years. I was publishing new content every single day, five days a week. I had an interested, growing readership. I was being noted in the mainstream press<\/a>. I broke a story<\/a>. I even got into a fight with Kirstie Alley<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But, two years ago, after 828 posts, I just felt I’d run out of things to say. So I stopped blogging.<\/p>\n

I knew it would not be forever. I knew I’d be back when I had a different, more compelling way to express myself: Something interrogative, more varied, deeper.<\/p>\n

As well, I knew I wanted to confront the state of hip-hop culture, above. I didn’t want to just talk about it. I wanted to mount actual projects, and use the blog as a central location for drawing visibility and help to those efforts.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>We’re at a real inflection point. Hip-hop is bigger than ever, right. There’s more opportunity than ever. There are more ways than ever for artists to truly get their grind on: To reach audiences and to profit from what they make. This, even as the music business changes radically.<\/p>\n

One thing that will never change, however, is that knowledge equals power. It’s one thing to work hard. That’s grinding<\/em>. It’s another thing to work smart. That’s design<\/em>. The most successful people effectively blend the two.<\/p>\n

That’s why, for the first time, I’ve decided to not only share what<\/em> I know, but who<\/em> I know.<\/p>\n

If the state of hip-hop music, the record business, or where they’re going mean anything to you, keep reading this blog<\/strong>. Follow me on Twitter (@harryallen)<\/a>. Friend me on Faceboo<\/a>k<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Keep your eyes open for the hashtag #gXd<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’m going to be launching a project that is really important to me. It’s going to be a game-changer. I’ll be inviting you to join me.<\/p>\n

Artwork: “Wack Rappers,” silk screen and watercolor on archival paper,\u00a0by Patrick Martinez, 2007<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2026I stopped blogging. At that point, I’d been running the Media Assassin site for 2\u00bd years. I was publishing new content every single day, five days a week. I had an interested, growing readership. I was being noted in the mainstream press. I broke a story. I even got into a fight with Kirstie Alley. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12,44,52,33,51,10,55,3,8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7555"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7555"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7570,"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7555\/revisions\/7570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}