Video: Golden Dolphin Jocks Blunted Martian at Totalitarian Swim Cube

by Sam Chennault

The hip-hop world buzzed yesterday about the revelation from Olympic gold medalist/new national icon Michael Phelps listens to Lil’ Wayne before his swim meets. (The admission comes just before the minute mark in the above video.) But, really, this is only surprising for those of us who expected Phelps to sustain himself on binaural transmissions via his aqua-men overlords. After all, who doesn’t listen to Lil’ Wayne in 2008?  Barack does. When I visited my 83-year-old grandmother last month, I caught her singing “A Milli” while knitting an afghan and sipping Ovaltine. The only thing strange here is that our new pop laureate is a syrup-addled rat-boy whose lyrics read like hydrogen-jukebox stream of consciousness meets Richard Pryor in the V.I.P. room of Magic City. After spending the '90s sweating alien invasion, it’s as if we’ve collectively said, “Screw it, bring on the martians.” But I digress. It’s nice to know that Phelps is a little like us, and more importantly, we’re all a little like Mike.

Further Listening: Michael Phelps' Rhapsody Playlist