Released: December 18, 2007

Featuring: Matthew Santos

Songwriter: Matthew Santos Lupe Fiasco Chris Paultrie Derrick Braxton

Producer: Chris&Drop

[Intro: Matthew Santos & Lupe Fiasco]
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

[Hook: Matthew Santos]
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

[Verse 1: Lupe Fiasco]
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 gonna kill the whole wide world

[Hook: Matthew Santos]
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

[Verse 2: Lupe Fiasco]
"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."

[Hook: Matthew Santos]
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

Lupe Fiasco

The Chicago born Wasalu Muhammad Jaco first tasted success when he featured on Kanye West’s hit “Touch the Sky”, a track that shortly preceded his real breakout, his 2006 debut album Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor, and he never looked back. He has established himself as one of the greatest urban wordsmiths of all time, with Genius even dubbing him the ‘Proust of Rap’.

While he’s now regarded of one of the 21st Century’s Hip-Hop greats, he wasn’t always a fan of the genre, initially disliking it due to the prominence of vulgarity and misogyny within it. In his late teens, he aspired to make it as a lyricist. In his early twenty’s, he met Jay-Z, who helped him sign with Atlantic Records in 2005. The following year, he released his debut album (Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor), which was met with acclaim from fans and critics alike, as did his sophomore effort, Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool.

The following eight years of his career saw far less output than many would’ve anticipated. This can be partly attributed to his struggles with Atlantic Records. The executives wanted him to sign a 360 deal; however, as he refused to do so they instead shelved his already completed 3rd album, Lasers, and wouldn’t promote him as they had previously. The overseers at the label also interfered with his music (as they had tried to do with his fan-favorite track “Dumb it Down”); subsequently effecting the quality and sound of his third and fourth albums.