TABLO: An Interview on the Importance of Expressing our Emotions

EPIK HIGH is a three-member hip-hop group that has led the Korean music scene with progressive tracks and socially relevant lyrics. TABLO is the leader of Epik High, a band that has been at the top of its game for many years and has influenced BTS.

 A gifted Stanford University graduate who also produces, he has compiled a collection of messages he has read out on late-night radio into the book BLONOTE. We asked the author, a longtime seller in his home country, what it means to express happiness and negative emotions in words.

Unforgettable tweets

 “BLONOTE” is a collection of final tweets from a late-night radio program. What was your intention in tweeting during the program in the first place?

The radio program is being broadcasted from 10:00 p.m. to 12:00 p.m., a time when many listeners would end their day with the program. So I was tweeting in the hope that my words would help listeners think about all kinds of wonderful things and thoughts about their own lives before they went to sleep.

At first, I had no idea of turning it into a book, but over the years, many people came across the words in various places and have written them down. In the process, I received requests for a book, and this is how it came to be.

 –Please tell us about the feedback you received during the broadcast of the program and what listeners said. For example, “When you go up, it’s a staircase; when you go down, it’s a precipice. If you hear the words, “that is love,” before you go to sleep, you may not be able to sleep at all.

Radio is a great way to get listeners’ reactions through social networking sites. The “stairs and precipice” you mentioned is one such example, and there were certainly responses such as, I can’t sleep if someone says something like that at this time of night.

I remember myself saying, “I bought a used instrument. I can’t believe someone’s dream is so cheap. When that was aired, there was a listener who suddenly needed money and sold his instrument, and I said, “On such a day, such a word”.

 

 –What is Tablo’s favorite word in “BLONOTE”?

The words, “The sky tells me that you are not the only one who feels like crying,” are something I think about a lot. Sometimes when I’m thinking, “I really feel like crying today,” it rains.

In Korea, rain is sometimes described as “the sky is crying,” and when it rains, many people feel that they are not the only one who wants to cry. I know some people feel depressed or lonely when it rains, but I feel comforted.

 -In your book, there are also handwritten letters from various people, including famous people and ordinary students.

I asked director Park Chan-wook of the movie “Oldboy,” actress Kong Hyo-jin, G-Dragon of BIGBANG, and others to write for me, and with their permission, I have included some that were already written somewhere by ordinary people. These are my words written about myself, but I think these handwritten letters have led to some sympathy, saying, This is about me, isn’t it?

 

I should express my feelings more.

 –I imagine that the reason why people who bought “BLONOTE” in Korea enjoyed writing in the book so much was because of the handwritten letters. Did you expect that kind of development from the beginning?

 

Half and half. I was hoping that it would happen. Because I believe that everyone should be able to express their feelings and I dream of such a world. Whether it is good or bad, if you don’t talk about it, it won’t start.

There is no development, and nothing will come of it. It is hell not to be able to say what you are feeling. I, myself, suffer if I don’t write, and I can’t help but create something. I would get sick and might lose my reason for living.

In this day and age, when technology covers so many aspects of our lives, I think people should be able to exchange feelings more intensely, but on the contrary, I feel that the more technology develops, the more people are shutting themselves in.

I have been urging people to express their feelings not only in this book but also in their music. This is because you cannot help people who do not express their feelings. When you are sad, you need to be comforted, and if you say you are sad, someone may be able to help you.

The only way to avoid such a bad ending is to express yourself. I don’t want people to say that it is a virtue to hesitate to express your feelings, to be shy, or to endure sadness. That’s why I keep saying it in all my expressions.

 

 –Poetry is the most stripped-down form of written expression, and I feel that what it can express is different from a long novel or something like that. In the area you just mentioned, I wonder if it is possible to cut to the deepest place of the heart with a single word. Do you have any thoughts on that area?

I agree completely. I like it better than long sentences too.

 

I am not afraid of negative expressions.

 –You, yourself, are not afraid of expressing negative feelings, is there anything you are conscious of when you create such works?

In the end, I want to talk to someone, too. However, I am not always in an environment where I can talk to someone, so I express myself through my works. Writing them down heals me in some ways. In my works, I try not to do things that people around me don’t want me to do, but I don’t dare to take them in a positive direction or wrap them in something beautiful.

There are many good things and good people in the world, but not all of them are those parts. There are also dark things and realities that we don’t want to see. I don’t want to make it sound like the world is a wonderful place to live in.

 

 –In Japanese society, it is not desirable to express negative feelings. On the other hand, such expressions are common in Korea. What does Mr. Tablo think is the importance of “being exposed to negative things”?

The answer to that question ends with one word. It is because it is real. Negative things exist, don’t they? It’s just that you express what is there as you feel it. I don’t think there is anything good to be said for hiding reality. The more you hide negative feelings, the darker they become.

 –What is the goal of your expression?

Ultimately, I want everyone to be happy. However, in order to find the answer, you have to have a proper question. I think many people are searching for answers without knowing what the question is. If you don’t know what kind of feelings you have, what kind of darkness you are carrying inside you, and how to digest them, you will only end up spinning your wheels.

For example, if you go to a hospital and just say, “Please treat me,” without examining me, nothing will be cured. What is wrong with you, what is the disease, and what do you need? Only after we clarify those things can we treat the patient. But I think we are trying to find the answer while being forced to do impossible things such as “just be happy,” “just be patient,” and “just hide the darkness”.

 — how do you think we should go about finding the right questions?

I think that 99.9% of people who don’t know what makes them happy or what they want are too concerned about others. People are always talking to other people and seeing how other people react to them. But if we are misled and follow someone else’s words, “you should do this” or “this is the right thing to do,” we will be unhappy and never find our own answers.

What is interesting is that people seem to think that there is only one happiness in this world. It is as if there is only one happiness in the world, and if someone else is happy, your happiness decreases, and if you see someone else happy, you feel as if you are unhappy. When I see someone else happy, I feel as if I am unhappy.

The first step is to live faithfully only in your own life, without wondering how others are doing. If you do this, you will be freer, you will have less heartache and confusion, and you will have more options for what you can express and what you want to do. Some may say it is difficult and impossible, but I believe that if we do this without worrying about what others think, and without interfering with others, the world will be a better place. If we do this, I think the world will be a better place.