The cover of "Lose Yourself" by a candidate in the Republican primary is not to Eminem's taste. The rap star has formally asked Vivek Ramaswamy to stop rapping his songs in the campaign, according to a letter made public on Monday.
The video of the entrepreneur, rapping the song "Lose Yourself" at a political event in Iowa, went viral a few weeks ago. The American organization for the protection of music rights, BMI, said in a letter revealed by the Daily Mail and whose authenticity was confirmed to have received "an official request" from Slim Shady demanding that the thirty-year-old candidate no longer use his music.
US #Republican presidential candidate Vivek #Ramaswamy performed #Eminem's song "Lose Yourself"
Seeing this, Eminem asked Vivek Ramaswamy not to perform his songs anymore.
Ramaswamy, we recall, wants to recognize the occupied territories of the #Russian Federation and lift... pic.twitter.com/xiG69GQQXS
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 29, 2023
At 38, Vivek Ramaswamy is a complete political novice and is experiencing a surprise rise in the Republican primary race. The one who likes to imagine himself in "Trump 2.0", now occupies, to everyone's surprise, third place in the polls for the Republican primaries, which will be held in early 2024.
"Trump 2.0"
Like Trump, Ramaswamy is an entrepreneur with an estimated fortune of $950 million, according to Forbes. The son of Indian immigrants, he has invested in biotechnology and finance. A presidential candidate since last February, he believes that the United States is going through a "crisis of national identity" driven by "left-wing ideologies that have replaced faith, patriotism and hard work" with "new religions" such as "Covid-ism, climate-ism and gender ideology".
During his studies at Harvard, he was noted for his talents as a rapper, under the nickname "Da Vek", an alter ego adept of libertarian texts. "If you think the speaker Vivek Ramaswamy is intense, you haven't met Da Vek yet," The Crimson, the university's student newspaper, joked in 2006.
Already complaints at Trump rallies
This is not the first time artists have reacted to the use of their songs by Republican candidates. During the last two presidential elections, several renowned singers, including Pharrell Williams, Rihanna, Aerosmith or Adele, as well as Prince's heirs, had complained that their titles were played at Donald Trump's campaign rallies.
The famous British rock band Rolling Stones had even threatened the Republican with legal action if he continued to use their hit "You Can't Always Get What You Want".