Hip-Hop Nation: Roots, Rhymes, and Rage

By Tony Karon

Once dismissed as a fad, hip-hop has become as quintessentially a part of being young today as rock 'n' roll was for an earlier generation. Now it's even moving into the precincts of adult high culture with an impressive assemblage of artifacts depicting the music's epic, and sometimes controversial, nearly 25-year journey from South Bronx block parties to television ad jingles. Says curator Kevin Powell: "Hopefully people will come away from this and realize it's time for colleges to start teaching hip-hop studies."

--By Tony Karon