[1][2] The title, Undiscovered genius of the Mississippi Delta, and the banner at the top of the painting, "THE DEEP SOUTH 1912-1936-1951," hint at the meaning of the entwined text and images.

The words "MISSISSIPPI" and "NEGROES" are each repeated three times in a row, "a sonic echo of insistence and emphasis.

"[3] As art critic Francesco Pellizzi observed, "His use of words, however, belongs more to the oral traditions of Afro-American cultures—the ecstatic invocations of Voodoo worshipers; the inflamed and inflaming spiritual rhetoric of Baptist preachers with their rousing, recurring, rhythmic juxtapositions of ethical, cosmological, and practical tenets; and, of course, now, black rap…"[4] Another repeated word is "MARK TWAIN," whose book Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is noted for its satire on racism as the protagonist travels along the Mississippi River.

Grégoire Billault, a senior VP at Sotheby's explained the significance of the artwork in an interview with the HuffPost: "By coupling the symbols and phrases most closely associated with the African American story with the abstract expressionist painterly technique in the multi-panel format, Jean-Michel Basquiat created an exceptional masterpiece of history painting.

"[5] Undiscovered genius of the Mississippi Delta has been exhibited at major art institutions worldwide, which include: