Blog4- Pop Culture and War- Lupe Fiasco- "The Cool"

When I read the requirements for this blog the first thing that popped into my mind was my current favorite album, 'The Cool'- Lupe Fiasco. There are two songs specifically on the album that when I heard them I immediately thought they were in reference to the war. The titles are 'Streets on Fire' and 'Hello/Goodbye (Uncool)' . Both tracks have a sense of darkness and sorrow. In 'Streets on Fire' the opening line which later becomes the chorus repeats "Death is on the tip of her tongue and dangers at the tip of her fingers//Streets- Are- On- Fire- To- Night" I interpreted that as 'her' referring to a gun and the 'streets' being the battlefield. In 'Hello/Goodbye (Uncool)', the entire second verse had to be about the war, it goes as follows: "He just sits and waits for them to kick in the door//He once was a hero they don't love him no more//There's a blast//Every time until it hits the floor//His gift for not fighting another mans war//And if, they can get they hands on the mask that he wore//On his face they can put somebody else in his place and restore//The state, the illusion that it's safe, the faith//That being a slave is so great//As gas fill the room and rockets destroy everything around him//He stands to find himself surrounded//By thousands of soldiers that he once trained//To never miss they target". In reality the song 'Streets on Fire' is about the life of a young man in the city who can't find the right path to follow in life, and continues to return to the only thing he knows, the streets.
Does this mean that my mindset has been altered to relate anything that refers to death, danger, darkness, or sorrow, to war? I do honestly think that a lot of times I can take something simple and relate it to the war, does this mean that I have been subliminally effected by the war through the my everyday activities. The little bit of exposure that I do have to what is going on in Iraq has altered my mind and the way I view the little things. When I asked one of my friends what she thought the songs were about she said something completely different then what I thought, but it was still in reference to the war. When we discussed this whole issue, we were both thrown off each other's responses. The way our mindset has altered without any notice is a little scary.