Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is a big fan of Eminem, using his music on the campaign trail and even rapping to one of his most famous songs but he has been put on notice by the hip-hop artist to cease and desist.
In a letter dated August 23, music licenser BMI was notified by the rapper, whose real name is Marshall Bruce Mathers III that he objected to the candidate’s use of his music and that he needs to halt immediately.
According to the letter, “BMI has received a communication from Marshall B. Mathers III, professionally known as Eminem, objecting to the Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign use of Eminem’s musical compositions (the ‘Eminem Works’) and requesting that BMI remove all Eminem Works from the agreement.”
“BMI will consider any performance of the Eminem Works by the Vivek 2024 campaign from this date forward to be a material breach of the Agreement for which BMI reserves all rights and remedies with respect thereto,” read the letter which was obtained and reported by the Daily Mail, regarding the licensing agreement for the use of the star’s music that was entered into in May.
The letter comes after the candidate wowed the crowd during an Iowa State Fair event with Hawkeye State Governor Kim Reynolds, breaking into a spontaneous rendition of the rap tune “Lose Yourself.”
2024 GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy raps Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” at the Iowa State Fair. pic.twitter.com/xUxlxUf3TY
— The Recount (@therecount) August 12, 2023
“Snap back to reality, ope there goes gravity,” he rapped, smiling and pumping his fist to the 2002 single from the film “8 Mile” which he announced was his favorite campaign event walk-out track.
“Vivek just got on the stage and cut loose,” Ramaswamy’s campaign said in a statement, according to The Hill. “To the American people’s chagrin, we will have to leave the rapping to the real slim shady,” referring to the title of one of the rapper’s greatest hits.
“Will The REAL Slim Shady Please Stand Up? He didn’t just say what I think he did, did he? @Eminem,” Ramaswamy wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter
Will The REAL Slim Shady Please Stand Up? He didn’t just say what I think he did, did he? @Eminem https://t.co/iOOuG6SU2D
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) August 28, 2023
Ramaswamy, who dabbled in the art form as a libertarian-minded rapper under the stage name of “Da Vek” during his college days at Harvard said that he was inspired by Eminem’s life experience.
“I saw myself, honestly, making it big through American capitalism, and that’s why the Eminem story spoke to me,” he said in a recent Politico article.
“He’s growing up in the trailers, with a single mom, and he wants to make it. He’s going to use the moment to do it. He feels like he’s going to use the moment to do it, he seizes it and then he makes it happen, and I thought it was a pretty cool story,” Ramaswamy said. “I didn’t grow up in a trailer, but I also didn’t grow up in the same circumstances that most of my peers at Harvard did, either. I aspired to achieve what many of their parents did. It kind of spoke to me, I would say.”
Mathers aka Eminem recently took shots at another GOP presidential candidate.
‘Flustered’ rapper Eminem targets Trump’s ‘brainwashed’ base, says nothing ‘great’ is going to happen https://t.co/4kaT09NjCT via @BIZPACReview
— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) August 8, 2023
“When I start talking about Trump I get too flustered in my head and the sh*t I want to say — there’s too many things I want to say at once,” the 50-year-old rapper said in a video posted to social media earlier this month. “So sometimes I start talking and I’m not able to convey the message the right way because I just get flustered and frustrated watching him play to his base that thinks that he cares about them. And it’s actually the people he cares about the f*cking least.”
“If you’re talking about his core being a majority white middle class what I don’t understand is how in the f*ck do you feel like you relate to a billionaire who has never known struggle his entire f*cking life,” Eminem added.
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