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Michael Phelps introduced Future at the VMAS.
We finally know what Olympian Michael Phelps was listening to when he made his meme-ified "Phelps Face."
During the Rio Summer Olympics, Phelps was doing his normal pre-race routine before the 200-meter butterfly when South African swimmer Chad Le Clos - who had narrowly beat Phelps for the gold medal in the same event at the London Olympics in 2012 - began shadow-boxing in front of him.
Phelps, listening to music with his hood up, gave Le Clos the ultimate death stare. This amazing face was captured on live television:
NBC
Phelps made this now-famous face during the Rio Olympics.
It inspired a string of memes:
we had this famous face by @McKaylaMaroney and now 4 years later we have @MichaelPhelps with this face #phelpsface pic.twitter.com/rGYfBxX6Da
- Julie B (@JulieeB11) August 9, 2016What really made Michael Jordan cry... #Rio2016 #PhelpsFace #CryingJordan pic.twitter.com/gID7oSZJwB
- Sharp Williams (@SharpTusk) August 9, 2016"Your password must contain uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols" #PhelpsFace pic.twitter.com/QgP088q6uk
- Nick Jones (@NJeezy529) August 9, 2016The face is still one of the most memorable Phelps moments from this year (aside from the way he reacted to Jimmy Fallon's Ryan Lochte impression).
On Sunday, the swimmer attended the MTV VMAs where he introduced the rapper Future: "There's no rapper today more inspiring than Future. His optimism is right there in his name," Phelps told the crowd.
Then, he explained he was actually listening to Future's music when he made the iconic and viral "Michael Phelps Face."
"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," Phelps continued.
This is the song Phelps was referring to:
Phelps has good taste - this is a great pump-up song. It's possibly the kind of song that will make you want to go out and win five gold medals (and a silver) at the Olympics, which is exactly what Phelps did in Rio.
Watch the full moment here: