The message that all black music came from the blues was heavy-handed in the surreal sequence where, all of a sudden, girls were twerking; they could have been more subtle and still gotten the point across. It needed a great deal of editing as the story dragged on the front end. I think Louisiana would have made more sense, but it is what it is. It was well made for what it was, but then the bar is pretty low when it comes to Hollywood; it certainly did not look like it was a Tyler Perry movie, so someone was doing something right along the way.
The violence and action scenes needed a great deal of work. The script could have used a major overhaul. I am sure you could go into this movie and think, well, it's just going to be fun, if you knew absolutely nothing about the basics or storytelling. People get dumber every day, the Fast and Furious movies are an example of this even though they keep putting butts in seat. As PT Barnum said there is a sucker born every minute. It is high-brow Blaxplotation, less sexy than Foxy Brown, but looks better than Blacula. It will sell lots of popcorn to stupid people.