Tonight, tonight, tonight
The stars are aligned, and the planets colliding
The plan is arriving, and she's out there smiling
The fear is upon us, the skies tried to warn us
The parents are goners, no children to mourn us
It's driving me crazy, this war is my lady
We've lost all our babies, and God is amazing
The tick of the timer, the slip of the rhymer, the pimp and the riser
Your cross, there you'll find her
Hey, hey

Death is on the tip of her tongue and
Danger's at the tip of her fingers
Streets are on fire tonight
Death is on the tip of her tongue and
Danger's at the tip of her fingers
Streets are on fire tonight

Disease, the virus is spreading in all directions
No safe zone no cure and no protection
No symptoms define the signs of an infection
No vaccines, remedies, and no corrections
Quarantine the dreams and seal off the connections
Don't let them in, not a friend, not a reflection
Everybody's got it and want you to have it next and
Don't accept them if you want to stay as an exception
No pill can heal the ill of this
Sickness, some are still in doubt of its existence
Some call it forgiveness and some call it the vengeance
Some say it's an exit and some say it's an entrance
The poor say the rich have the cure
The rich say the poor are the source
Revolutionaries say it's psychological war
Invented by the press, just to have something to report
Some say the first case came from a maternity ward
Some say a morgue, some say the skies, some say the floors
Whores say the nuns, nuns say the whores
And everybody is sure
The scientist say it only affects the mind
The little boy said it only affects the girls
The preacher man said it's going to kill off the soul
A bum said it's going to kill the whole wide world

Death is on the tip of her tongue and
Danger's at the tip of her fingers
Streets are on fire tonight
Death is on the tip of her tongue and
Danger's at the tip of her fingers
Streets are on fire tonight

"Believe!", so say the neon signs by the
Loudspeakers repeating that everything is fine
A subtle solace to demolish the troubled conscience
Of a populace with no knowledge and every freedom denied
Every dream is designed and broadcasted
From the masters to the masses
From the antennas on the top of the shrines
Refine the receiver and plant it
During the panic and short it, it reports back
Everything in your mind, everything is lying
Everything is dying, everything is a rule
Everything is a crime, everything was here then
Everything rewind the new
Weather burned the feathers off everything flying
(And she likes it, and she loves it)
The sadness, the madness, the bad shit
The lavish, the fastest, the clashes, the ashes to ashes
Everything intertwined
My femme fatale my darling fraudulent angel
Once caught her changing the batteries in her halo
Receipt for her wings and everything that she paid for
And the address to the factory where they made those
Scientist said she's all inside my mind
The little boy said "What happened to all the girls?"
The preacher man said "She's going to kill off your soul"
The dope boy said "It's the whole wide world"

Death is on the tip of her tongue and
Danger's at the tip of her fingers
Streets are on fire tonight
Death is on the tip of her tongue and
Danger's at the tip of her fingers
Streets are on fire tonight


Lyrics submitted by Phaithdzyne

Streets on Fire Lyrics as written by Derrick Braxton Christopher Eddy Paultre

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Royalty Network

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Streets On Fire song meanings
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64 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment

    "The scientists said it only infects the mind The little boy said it only infects the girls The Preacher man said it's gonna kill off the soul A bum said it's gonna kill off the world"

    seems like he is saying everyone blames eveyone else for all the problems we have

    soccerman90on December 22, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I'm going to first remind everybody that this song is about "the cool". Remember, the cool, is Connotation for comformity. There is no second meaning or anything it's all there in the album. The first track/poem is about the ignorance of it.

    "Freeze....cause the problem is we think its cool too. Check your ingredients, before you overdose, on the cool."

    This song directly relating to the theme of this entire album. The cool, the game, and the streets. The cool loses his soul and becomes a zombie, all of this is a metaphor for losing your individuality. The first verse isn't about aids, it's about the spread of ignorance and how everybody is forced to conform to it. Everybody begins pointing fingers, but everybody forgets that it applies to "the whole wide world".

    Now the second verse describes how it is done:

    "So say/some say the neon signs"

    the commerical industry: the media, the internet

    "might allow speaking repeating and everything is fine"

    you believe everything you hear without question

    "a subtle silence to demolish a trouble conscious"

    when you hear it you stop thinking

    "a compass with no knowledge"

    when you stop thinking, you have no direction

    "And every freedom denied"

    and also, you deny yourself your god given individuality

    "Every dream is designed and broadcasted From the masters to the masses From the antennas on top of the trine"

    Then, you believe what they want you to believe

    "As far as the receiving planet during a panic is shorted It reports back everything in your mind"

    The media, "the neon signs", knows what your thinking.

    "Everything is lying Everything is dying Everything is a rule And everything is a crime"

    This is the truth that is ignored.

    "Everything was healed And everything rewinds And new weather burn a feathers off everything's line"

    Everything from the first lines is repeated everytime you remember the truth. But instead of facing the truth, you listen to the media/"the neon signs" and "everything is fine".

    I'm sure every song means something to everybody. But I think lupe puts his meanings out all over the album.

    Natlaofatlantison May 17, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    These Lyrics are wrong, it's not...

    A subtle silence To demolish the troubled conscious Of a compass with no knowledge And every freedom denied

    It is...

    A subtle silence To demolish the troubled conscious Of a populace with no knowledge And every freedom denied

    Now doesn't that make more sense?

    Ubaon April 01, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Here, I'll just try to sum up what everyone's pretty much saying in one thread:

    I never lived in the 80's, but I remember from documentaries about the outbreak of HIV/AIDS (back when it was still called GRIDD), many were not fully sure how the disease was caused, whether it was sexually transmitted, psychological, or caused by other external factors. Also many sought to blame a certain genre of people for the spreading of the disease, going from Gays, to particular ethnicities, even as far as to African bush-meat hunters.

    I don't believe Lupe meant this song to solely be about AIDS, but instead he uses AIDS as a metaphor for "the cool." And as many of us know, "the cool" embodies the philosophy of the characters "the Streets" and "the Game"; a philosophy consisting of narcissism, avarice, and bigotry...a philosophy which the protagonist of the album learns from "the Streets" and "the Game."

    Through each verse, Lupe makes another metaphor by comparing the philosophy of "the cool" to mainstream pop-culture, and perhaps even to the current "rap game" as some critics on this page might say. This is especially prevalent in the lines from the 3rd verse:

    "Every dream is designed and broadcasted From the masters to the masses From the antennas on top of the shrines As far as the receiving planet during a panic is shorted It reports back everything in your mind."

    Shortly after Lupe raps this in the 3rd verse, Matthew sings, "And she likes it, and she loves it," which basically shows how our female character, "the Streets" is reveling in how her philosophy of "the cool" is heavily affecting the minds of everyone on the streets themselves (an interesting metaphor in itself), and chaos has ensued as everyone blames each other for the spread of the disease ("the cool), yet noone quite knows the culprit.

    Also in the lines from the 3rd Verse:

    My femme fatale my darling fraudulent angel Once caught her changing her batteries in her halo Receipt for her wings and everything that she paid for And the address to the factory where they made those"

    I believe Lupe is simply offsetting the fact that "the Streets" is obviously the culprit for this chaotic outbreak of "the cool," within an interesting allegory between "the Streets" heavenly innocent facade, and her inner devilish demeanor.

    Lastly, in the hook Matthew sings:

    "Death is on the tip of her tongue and dangers at the tip of her fingers. Streets are on fire tonight."

    The most evident meaning one can pull from this line is that the streets (as in the urban world that Lupe refers to) are in utter chaos because of the devious actions of the character, "the Streets." One could also pull an allegory out of this line in thinking that the character "the Streets" is actually "on fire," after performing all of her devious actions. If one takes "on fire" to mean feeling remorse, or being punished, or being consumed, then I think this allegory is questionable, as "the Streets" does not really show any signs of remorse, penitence, or punishment for her actions. However, if one believes that Lupe's using the slang meaning of "on fire," as in having a winning streak or a streak of accomplishment, then I believe the allegory could definitely be correct, since it seems like "the Streets" has gained nothing but successes from her devious plot of inflicting "the cool" upon the masses.

    HotChocolat384on June 12, 2008   Link
  • +1
    Song Meaning

    I feel this song really focus' on the emotional side of sex more so then the dangerous outcomes. I think he's really trying to get it out there that you shouldn't just have sex to have sex. When he says "No pill can heal the ill of this" he's saying that HIV/AIDs isn't the only thing that you can't cure that comes from sex. For guys just trying to "get some" it's different, for girls it's a mental and emotional battle. The fact that you can't take what you did back, or if the guy just leaves you right after. There's so much emotion and truth floating in this song.

    SocietyKillson December 15, 2009   Link
  • +1
    My Interpretation

    AIDS is too specific of a definition to fit the lyrics. I like to think of him describing the social aspect of fear in our culture.

    nrg0789on May 28, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Actually, if you any of you have paid attention to his music this song is more-so-ever a "prophetic" description of what is taking place right now and in the near future. Yes, this has something to deal with music, but the virus is deeper than that. This song is about the end...the end of the world. How hip hop is sneaking subliminal messages that slowly poisons the mind. We hear a tight beat but pay little to no attention to the message around it. We'll hear the lyrics but don't research the meaning of it. Then we someone finally realizes what's being said and speaks on it they're being called radical and bizaar. How many of you know what his song "I'm beaming" refers to? "Dumb it down" He painted it out for us but we weren't really paying attention to who these characters are and how they're affecting us. The characters are just pawns in a hierarchies' game. God warned us but I'm guessing we're too "cool" to listen. He knew that Satan would use music to deceive the mind because when he was in heaven he was the direction of a choir....do your research. When you think something is too far fetched sometimes it's not. I didn't pay attention until I started listening to the lyrics and my spirit said something wasn't right. Who's the illuminati and how are they affecting you?

    PhilosophicalMindon August 21, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I'd first like to say that Lupe is my favorite artist and "streets on fire" is my favorite song of all time.

    What I got from the song was that he is using examples of AIDS and the situations in the streets to illustrate the bigger picture that there are often things in society overlooked and ignored by the "masters" (government/higher ups) "to the masses" (the people) who only are concerned with other things and are an infection.

    Also I believe that the section where Lupe describes the Angel changing the batteries in her halo represents how things are often not what they seem and there are underlying problems not only in people (going from an angel to just a person also signifying how people themselves think they are maybe better than they really are), but in society.

    And he claims that everybody is placing blame on everyone else for problems in society and wont take responsibility for their own actions and hide imperfections.

    This is another classic illustration of Lupe using metaphoric examples to depict a larger picture. He is truly a lyrical genius and should be regarded as one of the best artists there ever was.

    chris21on March 08, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    such a tight song.

    Phaithdzyneon December 20, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    excellent

    gplpark92on December 20, 2007   Link

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