An African-American poet who was a member of the Last Poets.
Born in Akron, Ohio, he sold his younger sister's record player to purchase a bus ticket to New York after seeing the Last Poets perform, and subsequently joined them in 1969.
He became heavily involved in drugs during the 1970s, roaming crackhouses, hustling, dealing, shooting up, until his sister finally came to his rescue and took him into her Connecticut home.
In recent years he has taken up performing again after hearing a hiphop band named Tribe Called Quest, who had, without his knowledge, set one of his own poems to music. Modern rappers such as Ice Cube and Chuck D. of Public Enemy were trying to link up with the Last Poets and Bin Hassan returned to New York to continue his work with the Last Poets, whose message was still a relevant one, and to resume his writing and performing with the group.