Blues, Jazz, and the African American Literary Canon
Houston Baker Jr. describes the American blues as the Derridean "always already" of African American culture. In Blues, Ideology, and Afro-American Literature, Baker states, "They [blues] are the multiplex enabling script in which Afro-American cultural discourse is inscribed." The blues document the violent history and traumas endured while affirming the "somebodiness of black people" (James Cone).