Tablo - Lesson One

"Yeah, people, attention

Education, knowledge

Huh, yeah, I got something to say to my teachers

Genius is not the answer to all questions

It's the question to all answers

Brothers and sisters Yeah, 

Come and listen 

Do we learn math to add the dead sums?

Subtract the weak ones, count cash for great ones?

Yo, we multiply but divide the nation.

Break down like fractions, send our sons away to die

Do we learn science in defiance of faith?

To make alliance with fakes for an appliance's sake?

We ask for the real to make artificial intelligence 

To make smarter kills of others' presidents

Why do we learn history? 

To fix stories for the guilty

Make angels look filthy and the devils look milky

If the victor writes the books then what have we won?

Are we battleships of authorship a rich man's guns?

Do we learn to read to receive the lies,

To deceive the eyes from seeing between the lines?

Yo, we use words to bring forth sticks and stones,

To sing songs of hate that fill the streets with bones.  

Unseen or heard,A King with words

Tablo, lyrical assassin

y-y-yeah yeah

Make me vision for better living 

Unseen or heard,A King with words

Tablo, lyrical assassin

y-y-yeah yeah

Make me vision I'm the truth 

Is our day job more than self-slavery?

When we're locked watching the clock impatiently

We sweat for the dollar bills, the checks, and the credit cards

But the dollar kills, breaks the necks of our inner hearts

If the police are role models for the righteous,

Why does justice depend on guns and nightsticks?

Mr. officer, don't punish me, with brutality

The streets got me singing Marvin Gaye off-key

Why? do we need church to get to heaven's gates?

Can holy water quench the thirst of those whose fates

Started in the wrong place with the wrong face?

Can the poor and the hungry survive solely on grace?

Can this rap game ever bring changes?

When MCs would rather floss a cross than be saviours?

Will I last in this game, be blasted with shame

Will I stand for my name and never blaspheme for fame?  

Unseen or heard, A King with words 

Tablo, lyrical assassin

y-y-yeah yeah

Make me vision for better living 

Unseen or heard, A King with words

Tablo, lyrical assassin

y-y-yeah yeah

Make me vision I'm the truth" 

The lyrics of Tablo's Lesson one. This is what i would call a modern poem, Set in the present day, these lines reflect the flaws in today's "evolved" society. This is how i've interpreted it. Education and knowledge used as separate words means they're two different things to him. And then he calls out to his teachers probably telling them that memorising things (which is encouraged more than applying ideas in most asian countries) is not the way to gain knowledge, that knowing random facts that help you pass school doesn't make a person a genius. He says that genius is the question to all answers. (He says he is the question  to all answers in another song, which means he's calling himself a genius. Oh! Vanity, how i love thee.) Implying that a true genius is what questions the basic fundamental principles and comes up with these answers. He says brothers and sisters, referring to the people of the world who share his plight, and asks them to listen. Probably because they have turned a blind eye to these troubles.The lines that follow are pretty obvious in which my favourite subject mathematics' motives are questioned. The only thing i remember thinking while solving math problems as a kid is getting to the bottom of the problem, i.e. finding the right answer. And i think the poet remembers that too and thinks of the functions of mathematics as we grow up vastly different from what it was before and thus raises the questions he does. Adding the "dead" sums means useless calculations that children and adults do. "Subtract the weak ones" probably refers to the human resources downsizing their company or just the discarding of the weak in general and opting for the stronger, more efficient goods and people while counting cash for the great ones who have a lot of it to be counted, so to say. "We multiply" referring to the increasing population of his country and the world itself which is being constantly divided by the very same people. The country where Tablo is from was a part of a slightly bigger country that divided into two and is the origin of this line. "Break down like fractions" this means that people divide among themselves forming groups within groups and forming ramifications that don't benefit the greater cause. The compulsory army enlistment rule in South Korea is what sending their sons away to die refers to. Army service is not necessarily fatal, but they are the sufferers of the strife between the two countries.

Science when taught in school is just science. It’s when we grow up that the implications of religion on science and vice versa become apparent. The so called scientists make alliances with corporations that preach something and practice something else and receive many "gifts" in return. We as humans ask for the real in everything we use. From fruit juices to cosmetics, everything claims to be "real" and "pure" when it is obviously not. For years the scientists have been trying to develop artificial intelligence that would help them further their research in other areas and help solve the mystery of life itself. By doing so, we develop advanced technology that helps the "smarter kills of others' presidents".

History is written by the winners and they tell their side of the story. In the process, the doers of genuine good are often painted with negative colours and vice versa. He asks if the writers and poets ought to do something about that or just be an instrument for the rich man or victor's gains. Those who read, often thus receive the lies and fail to see the bigger picture. The words politicians often use in their speeches brings forth wars of many kinds and singer who reflect this in their work ultimately "sing songs of hate that fill the street with bones".

As Tablo was still a struggling artist when he wrote the song, he's both unseen and unheard and yet a self-proclaimed king with words, hoping to assassinate the evils using the song's lyrics. He asks people to make him vision for better living as he speaks the truth.

Slavery is something that has been condemned by the modern civilization and Tablo calls the Day job or a 9 to 5 job self-slavery as we watch the clock impatiently willing it mentally to strike 5 sooner. We work hard for our money so that we can afford the luxuries in life, it corrupts us from within, breaking the “necks” of our inner hearts.

If the police are the role models for all that is righteous in the world, why dies justice depend on so much violence? I think he knew the answer to that the moment he put it down on the paper, but it was a valid question form an ideological point of view.

Do we really need churches and other religious monuments to help us on our journey in the afterlife? Are they of real help to those who desperately need it? Those who started in the wrong place with the wrong face refers to the racism and regionalism that has been plaguing the world. No matter how much we want to believe the whole global village concept, it is true that there will always be some who serve as figures of embarrassment to the others, the free thinkers of the land. As someone who grew up far away from his land of origin, Tablo must have faced some amount of discrimination at some point in his life and wishes it gone. Can the poor and the hungry survive on prayers and grace alone? The religious institutions although are involved in many works of charity, the sad truth is that there are many people still deprived of their basic needs while others squander away their plentiful wealth in almost meaningless endeavours.

He then asks if this rap game can bring about any real changes when those in charge would rather improve their "image" than be actual saviours. After the failures that the Epik High endured Tablo voices out his personal concerns by asking if he would last in the game or be forever forgotten.