You've got to suffer, if you want to sing the blues... it could be argued (maybe it already has) that blues is a traditional music that evolved out of a shared experience specific to the Afro-American community... I've heard it said that the blues may not have been born in East St. Louis, Illinois...but that is where her mother got pregnant... tough people, tough places, tough times, a faustian bargain...pretty quick you got some blues.