Lil Wayne and Eminem Helped Michael Phelps Win Big at 2016 Olympics

Last week, a New York Times profile of Olympic swimmer and gold medal collector Michael Phelps revealed that his pre-race playlist includes songs from Eminem, Jeezy and more, and speaking with People on Facebook Live, Phelps got a bit more specific as to what he was listening to that inspired his meme-worthy mean mug.

"When I’m walking in this time, it was Eminem. I went back to 2003 Eminem, 2004 Eminem. I had some Lil Wayne from ’08," he says in the above stream. "When I was in the ready room getting ready to go out, I was listening to Nero and Skrillex just kinda trying to really get going and really get amped before I would walk out. That helped a lot."

Eminem released the 8 Mile soundtrack and The Eminem Show in 2002, songs like "Lose Yourself" and "Til I Collapse" both charting that year. In previous years, Phelps has listed Lil Wayne’s “I’m Me” as a go-to song to hype himself up, saying at the time, “Just the name of the song made sense to me, given where I’m at right now, and how I felt at these Games.” He as well has included Jeezy’s “Go Getta” on past playlists, so perhaps Phelps stays true to his past musical ways.

While he's talking about a post workout snack in the above video, it's hard not to hear, "For me, recovery is something that was really big," and not think of Em's 2010 album. Two summers ago, Em was named the best artist to work out to, and this past October a separate study found that listening to the rapper will boost work out performance. With 23 gold medals to his name, it seems safe to say that Phelps' playlist is a highly effective one. Watch his interview from Rio up above.

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