The enduring appeal of young America

■"Young Bolivians Adopt Urban U.S. Pose, Hip-Hop and All," by Juan Forero, New York Times, 26 May 2005, p. A4.

Hip-hop globalizes because it speaks to young men feeling disenfranchised. Everyone goes through that in their youth, some more virtually than others. It's just the nature of growing up.

But in many parts of the Gap, that sense of being shut out of opportunity is real, and so hip-hop is a venue to express that anger in a way that doesn't curtail future connectivity. More than just harmless rebellion, it's about getting your head straight about the life ahead, which will inevitably involve "revolutions" of all sorts against the system that will otherwise naturally shortchange them.

Rule set resets come with a soundtrack, and for most of the world's youth that soundtrack is hip-hop.