Songfacts®:

• East Coast crooner PnB Rock sings here about the vulnerability of love as he admits to wanting a particular girl all to himself. He recalled the story behind the song to Genius:
  
  "I was in the studio with this chick. We was in there vibing. It was a couple of people in the studio, actually. We was in there vibing, he put the beat on, and it was just one of those times where the beat spoke to me. I was with the girl, so it was like, I was feeling selfish about her at the time, you feel me?
  
  This particular girl that I was talking about the song - it's crazy. It was a short-lived moment. It was the girl that I was dealing with at the time. That's really how I felt about her, though. I was selfish. I wanted her all to myself. But it was just short-lived."
• On September 12, 2022, PnB Rock was fatally shot in a robbery attempt at Roscoe's House of Chicken 'N Waffles in Los Angeles. At the time of his death, "Selfish" marked the rapper's biggest solo hit.
• In his later career, Rock became more known as a collaborative artist, with a feature on Ed Sheeran's 2019 song "Cross Me" alongside Chance the Rapper. The song peaked #25 on the Hot 100 and reached the Top 10 in many countries. He also provided uncredited vocals on the bridge of XXXTentacion's US Top 20 single "Changes."