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Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy gave an impromptu performance of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” onstage during a campaign event in Iowa earlier this month.
But the Grammy-winning hip-hop artist wants this to be the political newcomer’s only performance — at least when it comes to Eminem’s music. Nearly two weeks after Ramaswamy demonstrated his rap skills at the Iowa State Fair, Eminem urged Ramaswamy’s campaign not to do it again.
Music licensor BMI said the popular rapper objected to Ramaswamy’s use of his compositions – the “Eminem Works” – and asked that Ramaswamy’s campaign stop using his music.
According to an Aug. 23 letter to Ramaswamy, reported by the Chron, BMI “will consider any performance by the Eminem Works through the Vivek 2024 campaign from this date as a material breach of the Agreement, for which BMI retains all rights and remedies.” reserves.” in relation thereto.”
Tricia McLaughlin, a senior adviser to Ramaswamy’s campaign, said in an email response to questions about Eminem’s objection that Ramaswamy “just got on the stage and got going.”
“Unfortunately for the American people, we have to leave the rapping to the Real Slim Shady,” she said.
This isn’t the first time the rapper, also known as Slim Shady and born Marshall B. Mathers III, has snubbed a Republican politician.
On the day of the third and final presidential debate of the 2016 election, Eminem released a surprise song titled “Campaign Speech” in which he warned Americans about then-candidate Donald Trump. Almost a year later, at the BET Hip Hop Awards, the rapper said Trump’s policies were harmful to America and criticized his fans for voting for Trump in 2016.
Shortly before the 2004 election, Eminem released a political protest song called “Mosh,” in which he criticized President George W. Bush.
While Eminem often let his music do the talking politically, he allowed Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign to use “Lose Yourself” — the same song Ramaswamy performed in Iowa — in an advertisement that aired the day before the election. The rapper shared the ad on Twitter with the caption, “An opportunity… #Vote.”
The Detroit rapper also used his platform to support gun control initiatives and advocate for abortion rights, tweeting in 2022 that he disagreed with the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade. Born to a teenage mother in a white, working-class family in small-town Missouri, the rapper has often referenced the racism, police brutality, and poverty faced by black Americans in his music, and his lyrics address it also about the challenges it faces – income confronting Americans across the country.
Ramaswamy, who is still a long way from winning the Republican nomination and is a political novice, has portrayed himself as a Republican entirely aligned with Trump’s movement and has several appeals to the former’s supporters President, using some of Trump’s rhetoric on race. During last week’s Republican primary debate, Ramaswamy said, “Reverse racism is racism,” a statement that could resonate with Republican voters.
Eight Republican presidential candidates took the stage for the first Republican primary debate of 2024 on Aug. 23. (Video: Blair Guild/The Washington Post, Photo: Joshua Lott/The Washington Post)
Shortly before his performance in Iowa, Ramaswamy – who rapped under the stage name “Da Vek” as a Harvard University student – was asked by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) what his favorite song for the strike was. He replied, “Lose yourself.” The song, taken from the 2002 film “8 Mile,” which won an Oscar for Best Original Song, contains autobiographical elements of the rapper’s life and his overcoming of obstacles on his path to stardom. Ramaswamy gleefully performed part of the song to a cheering crowd at the Iowa State Fair, and the moment went viral online.
While campaign theme songs date back to the George Washington days, clashes between candidates and musicians did not become a staple of the campaign season until 1984, when President Ronald Reagan, while campaigning in New Jersey, sent native son Bruce Springsteen and his “Message of Hope” mentioned .” Springsteen, whose “Born in the USA” was a hit at the time, lamented that Reagan was hijacking his image.
Such disputes have become a commonplace part of the American political landscape in the nearly 40 years since.
Four songs got Bush into hot water during his two successful presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004: “I Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, “ROCK in the USA” by John Mellencamp, “Brand New Day” by Sting and Still the One from Orleans.
In 2008, Republican presidential candidate John McCain was criticized by the band Heart because his campaign team played “Barracuda” while Vice President Sarah Palin took the stage at the Republican National Convention.
Soul and R&B legend Sam Moore sent a letter to the then-senator. Barack Obama encouraged the use of the song “Hold On, I’m Comin’,” which he performed as a member of the group Sam and Dave, during the 2008 presidential campaign. Moore told North Carolina’s WFMY at the time that he found it “pretty rude” that no one had asked his permission to use the song because the use indicated that he supported the contestant. Obama’s campaign team, which had been using the tune to cheer crowds at rallies for months, agreed to stop using it.
In 2012, Petty’s representatives asked Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) not to use a snippet of his song “American Girl,” which she used to announce her presidential candidacy. That same year, the band Survivor sued another GOP contestant, Newt Gingrich, for using their signature song, “Eye of the Tiger.”
In 2018, Trump supporters danced to Pharrell Williams’ song “Happy” while waiting for the then-president to take the stage at a convention in Indiana. The song came hours after a gunman killed 11 people at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue in the deadliest attack on Jews in US history.
Williams, through his attorney, threatened legal action and issued a cease and desist letter to Trump, alleging that playing “Happy” constituted copyright and trademark infringement.