When he’s not busy pwning Mark Spitz and winning over 9000 gold medals, Michael Phelps is seemingly always rocking some shit on his iPod. Since for at least this week he’s bigger than Miley Cyrus, Yahoo! Sports lurked into what’s on Phelps’ iPod, and guess what? It’s mostly shit, shit and more shit:

While his pre-race tracklist varies, Phelps has said that “I’m Me” by Lil’ Wayne has been on his playlist in Beijing. Other artists that populate Phelps’ iPod include: Jay-Z, Young Jeezy, Eminem and Outkast. (What, no ‘Pac?) Occasionally, he’ll throw some techno into the mix, but usually keeps things rap-centric. Phelps doesn’t speak much about the specific songs he’s listening to, but he did tell NBC in 2004 that Eminem’s “‘Til I Collapse” was on his most-played list at Athens. In 2005, he created a playlist for the website Rhapsody that included the songs “Roses” by Outkast, “Burn” by Usher, “Overnight Celebrity” by Twista and  “Smile” by G-Unit.

So I tuned pop music out for a minute, preferring a steady playlist of ’70s glam rock, Willie Nelson and Black Sabbath to the sugarhooks and fashionable looks populating the TRL world, and by the time I start paying attention again, I am flooded by constant blogs and article about folks like Jeffree Star, Trace Cyrus, Ronnie Radke… Not their music, but their fascinating drama. For a second I wondered why it’s more interesting for folks to talk about their feuds than their actual music. Then I listened to their music…

Egad, no wonder. Side note: it sounds a lot better when you listen to all three simultaneously than one at a time. Just open their My Space Pages in your tabs. See? Way better.

A plausible solution:

Yesterday as Kirty South and I drove back from Olympia WA, HANDS DOWN THE WORST PLACE IN THE UNITED STATES (with a few notable exceptions), I got to select the playlist on his iPod. Between The Shaggs and Deerhoof songs, there was plenty of ’80s pop, with no fewer than three Michael Jackson songs strewn in there. Man, that dude could write and perform a song. Despite child-touching allegations and a two-decade long decline in productivity and popularity, you still gotta give it up for Michael as an artist.

This led me to wonder: so when’s Wacko Jacko gonna release a new album? Apparently, it’s in the works. According to Billboard, songwriter Claude Kelly penned a song for the new Akon album. When Akon played Kelly the track, it featured none other than Michael Jackson. The track “Hold My Hand” will reportedly be released on both Akon’s album, and Jackson’s upcoming release (no release date yet). I for one can’t wait. No, seriously.

Claude Kelly, who can write a hit song, but apparently has no eye for design, is understandably way stoked.

“I wrote the song and gave it to Akon with the intention of it going to maybe Whitney Houston, but Akon said he wanted to cut it himself. I thought, ‘It doesn’t get any bigger than this’,” the 27-year-old New York native tells Billboard.com. “A few months after, Akon plays the song for me and all of a sudden I hear Michael Jackson’s voice. I was literally shaking by the time the song was over.”