Eminem prompted BMI to send a cease-and-desist letter to Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy for using the rapper's song “Lose Yourself” for campaign purposes.
Variety reports that Ramaswamy — who rapped along with “Lose Yourself” at the end of his appearance at the Iowa State Fair in August — had a letter sent to his campaign lawyer “objecting to the campaign’s use of Eminem’s musical compositions.” The letter concludes, “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 Feels a Connection to Eminem's Music, but Eminem Isn't Feeling It
Born in Ohio to Indian immigrants, Ramaswamy founded the pharmaceutical company Roivant Sciences. In a video announcing his intention to run as a Republican presidential hopeful, Ramaswamy talks about the country's “national identity crisis,” saying, “We have obsessed so much over our diversity and our difference that we forgot all the ways we’re really just the same as Americans.” He authored the books Woke, Inc. and Nation of Victims, the titles of which alone surely triggered Eminem.
Ramaswamy told The New York Times, “I did not grow up in the circumstances he did. But the idea of being an underdog, people having low expectations of you, that part speaks to me.”
Eminem, born Marshall Bruce Mathers III, is considered one of the greatest rappers in history and someone who brought rap music to Middle America. His music appeals to the underclass and underrepresented groups. The song “Lose Yourself,” from the soundtrack to the 2002 semiautobiographical movie 8 Mile, is about how his character, B-Rabbit, overcomes obstacles to gain acceptance from other rappers.
The intro to “Lose Yourself” reads, “Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity/To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment/Would you capture it or just let it slip?” The lyrics continue, “You better lose yourself in the music/The moment, you own it, you better never let it go/You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow/This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo.” In the third verse, Eminem raps, “I was playin' in the beginning, the mood all changed/I've been chewed up and spit out and booed off stage/But I kept rhymin' and stepped right in the next cypher/Best believe somebody's payin' the Pied Piper/All the pain inside amplified by the fact that I can't get by with my nine-to-five/And I can't provide the right type of life for my family.”