As it turned out, Vivek Ramaswamy only got one shot to lose himself in the music.<\/p>\n
Marshall B. Mathers III, better known as the rapper Eminem, has told Mr. Ramaswamy, a Republican presidential candidate, that he is no longer to use Eminem music on the campaign trail, just weeks after Mr. Ramaswamy broke into an impromptu version of Eminem\u2019s \u201cLose Yourself\u201d at the Iowa State Fair.<\/p>\n
The licensing arm of Mr. Mathers\u2019s record company, BMI, informed the Ramaswamy campaign in a letter dated Wednesday and reprinted in The Daily Mail on Monday that \u201cBMI will consider any performance of the Eminem works by the Vivek 2024 campaign from this date forward to be a material breach\u201d of the firm\u2019s licensing rules, \u201cfor which BMI reserves all rights and remedies with respect thereto.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ramaswamy campaign didn\u2019t put up a fight. And it wasn\u2019t a regular thing, this Eminem rap-along. At the fair, Mr. Ramaswamy, the 38-year-old political newcomer, had told Gov. Kim Reynolds of Iowa that his favorite \u201cwalk off\u201d song was \u201cLose Yourself,\u201d and an enterprising sound technician blared it over the fair\u2019s loud speaker. The candidate picked up the mic and joined in.<\/p>\n
\u201cVivek just got on the stage and cut loose,\u201d his campaign spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin, said on Monday. \u201cTo the American people\u2019s chagrin, we will have to leave the rapping to the real Slim Shady,\u201d another of Mr. Mathers\u2019s noms de plume.<\/p>\n
Though Mr. Ramaswamy has professed his love for Eminem, the breakup was probably inevitable. Mr. Ramaswamy has clung more tightly to Donald J. Trump and his brand of right-wing populism than any other candidate in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, and Eminem is no fan of the former president. In 2017, Eminem famously performed a freestyle protest against Mr. Trump, calling him \u201ca kamikaze that\u2019ll probably cause a nuclear holocaust.\u201d<\/p>\n