Michael Phelps Credits Future’s “Stick Talk” For His Mean Muggin at Olympics

“Remember in Rio when I made that face that ended up all over the Internet? I was in the zone with Future’s track ’Stick Talk’ blaring in my headphones.”

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Throughout his celebrated Olympic career, Michael Phelps has made it known, he’s a hip-hop head. He listens before his competitions and credits a lot of it to his success. Last week, The New York Times reported that Phelps was bumping Eminem and Jeezy on his pre-swim playlist, and not long after, he told People Magazine that when he was entered the swim arena this year, he was rocking out to some ‘03 Eminem and ‘08 Lil Wayne. Then on Sunday night, at MTV 2016 VMAs, Phelps went into more detail about what he was listening to that day he made that meme-face seen around the world:

“One thing that’s been constant through my entire career is the motivation and inspiration that I get from hip-hop,” he said while introducing Future, “There’s no rapper today more inspiring than Future. His optimism is right there in his name. Remember in Rio when I made that face that ended up all over the Internet? I was in the zone with Future’s track ’Stick Talk’ blaring in my headphones. He’s been on an unbelievable run over the last two years and he’s here tonight to perform that song that started it all. I might have a lot of golds, but this guy’s got all the platinum.”

You can watch Future’s 2016 VMA performance here.

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