Streets On Fire

"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

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

such a tight song.

excellent