Rapper Eminem wants Vivek Ramaswamy to stop using his songs, sending a letter to revoke the license Ramaswamy’s campaign had made with the music licenser BMI.
Ramaswamy rapped Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” at the Iowa State fair in early August. On August 23, a representative for BMI informed Ramaswamy’s lawyer that Eminem objected to “the Ramaswamy campaign’s use of Eminem’s musical compositions,” adding that Eminem wanted BMI to “remove all Eminem Works from the Agreement.”
“This letter serves as notice that the Eminem Works are excluded from the Agreement effective immediately,” the letter stated. “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.”
Ramaswamy later responded, tweeting, “Will The REAL Slim Shady Please Stand Up? He didn’t just say what I think he did, did he?”
In college, Ramaswamy had performed raps under the stage name “Da Vek,” often rapping “Lose Yourself.” He reportedly also performed the song during a vacation to Canada at a karaoke bar.
“I did not grow up in the circumstances he did,” Ramswamy has said of Eminem, claiming that “people having low expectations of you, that part speaks to me.” Ramaswamy’s father was an engineer and patent attorney for General Electric while his mother had a career as a geriatric psychiatrist.
In 2000, Sting asked George W. Bush to stop using his song “Brand New Day.” Sting’s manager, Miles Copeland said Sting didn’t want to take sides in the election as Sting was British and a “guest “ in the U.S. “It’s not a polite thing to do,” Copeland said, according to Salon, claiming he would tell the Gore campaign, which also used the song, to stop, although that never happened. In 2009, Sting and Gore had brunch together.
This article has been updated.