Jay-Z decodes new ‘Paradise’ verse performed at Paralympics Closing Ceremony in London

Jay-Z surprised fans at the 2012 Paralympics closing ceremony Sunday night by dropping some fresh rhymes over Coldplay‘s “Paradise,” now he’s taken to his website Life + Times to give some insight into the thought process behind the bars.

Despite the fact that the verse was obviously prepared specifically for the Paralympics, Jay says he designed the new rhymes to be all-inclusive and inspirational to everyone:

The thought behind the verse is, anyone with a disability, just wants a sense of normality – that’s why they’re competing in these games. That was the idea to make the verse as inclusive for as many people, and to make it as normal as possible. It’s influenced by so many different things. There’s parts that are influenced by Gabby Douglas, there’s parts that are influenced by Ryan Lochte, and by Serena Williams. … It can relate to everybody. ‘You can take everything,’ means whether through some tragedy you lost a limb, like an arm or a leg. Or, it could be something like you lost the mortgage to your house. That’s pretty much the idea.

Study the bars and have another look at the performance below.