Jay-Z Talks “Public Service Announcement” Verse (video)

Jay said he personally chose each of the songs featured in “Decoded” for several reasons, and “PSA” made the tome because of its unique origin. Bars from the second verse of the Just Blaze-helmed track were penned after a journalist interpreted the symbolism she picked out in one of Jay’s outfits. However, Hov thought the scribe’s analysis of his look was a bit of a reach.

“The second verse of ‘PSA’ may not have that many hidden jewels in [it], but the story behind why I wrote the second verse is pretty interesting. It’s sort of that look on rap, how this writer had written this article about me wearing this Che Guevara shirt [with a] Jesus piece, and she was like, ‘The Jesus piece is hitting his hand,’ and I was like, ‘You’re going a little too far. It’s a T-shirt and a chain. It’s not literally hitting his forehead,’ ” he recalled. “That [experience] inspired the entire verse. ‘I’m like Che Guevara with bling on, I’m complex.’ It’s the whole entire story of how and why I came to write that second verse on ‘PSA.’ “