Lesson One (Tablo's Word)

(album: Map Of The Human Soul - 2003)

People um
I walk through the streets
Everybody wanna change
You gotta do certain things, you know?
Straight up

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, yo... c'mon 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 livin'"
"Unseen or heard"
"A king with words"
"Tablo, lyrical assassin"
"Y-y-yeah yeah"
"Make me vision"
"I'm the truth"

Is a 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 saviors?
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 livin'"
"Unseen or heard"
"A king with words"
"Tablo, lyrical assassin"
"Y-y-yeah yeah"
"Make me vision"
"I'm the truth"