When Eminem Told Republican Vivek Ramaswamy to Stop Rapping His Songs At Campaign Trails

Eminem didn't approve of ex-Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy's rendition of his raps during the campaign trail. Back when the entrepreneur was running for the 2024 presidential race against the party's front-runner Donald Trump, he rapped on the 51-year-old musician's Lose Yourself at the Iowa State Fair in 2023. However, the rapper seemingly objected. 

The letter came after Ramaswamy's impromptu performance stole the spotlight in Iowa. Eminem requested the businessman-turned-politician via performing rights organization BMI dated August 2023 to not sing his songs or else it would be considered a "material breach" from then onwards, as per BBC. "BMI will consider any performance of the Eminem works by the Vivek 2024 campaign from this date forward to be a material breach" of its license," read the letter. 

Meanwhile, the letter also said the company "received a communication from" The Real Slim Shady singer objecting the Republican to use his "musical compositions" in his campaign trails. A spokeswoman for Ramaswamy said the Republican will comply with the requests made by Eminem, originally, Marshall Mathers III.

Tricia McLaughlin, Ramaswamy's then-campaign spokeswoman clarified in a statement to US media, "Vivek just got on the stage and cut loose. To the American people's chagrin, we will have to leave the rapping to the real slim shady." To this, the 38-year-old reposted a Daily Mail article and tweeted on X, formerly Twitter, "Will The REAL Slim Shady Please Stand Up? He didn't just say what I think he did, did he?"

While on the music front, Ramaswamy has professed his love for Eminem, politically, he's inclined towards Trump. Interestingly, the Venom artist is no fan of the convicted felon. Back in 2017, the musician performed a freestyle protest against Trump, calling him "a kamikaze that'll probably cause a nuclear holocaust." 

The Till I Collapse singer had an explosive musical showdown that was political in nature, where he accused the former president of racism, hypocrisy, disrespect of military veterans, and more nearly five-minute-long furious rap. The video titled The Storm was filmed in Detroit as part of the BET Hip Hop Awards' traditional ciphers, as per The New York Times. 

His lyrics not only ripped Trump but also his supporters, singing, And any fan of mine/who's a supporter of his/I'm drawing in the sand a line/you’re either for or against/and if you can't decide/who you like more and you're split/on who you should stand beside/I'll do it for you with this, and showed middle finger to the camera. 

However, Trump isn't Eminem's only target. Previously, he's aimed at others like Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and George W. Bush. The rapper, who's never shied away from feuds, told The New York Times, "Sometimes I think that if I get comfortable or set in my ways of doing something, maybe I should step back for a minute and figure out how to mix it up a little bit."