Rapper Eminem tells US presidential hopeful Ramaswamy to drop the mic, quit playing his songs

Rap star Eminem has formally asked Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy to stop using his music on the campaign trail, according to a letter made public on Monday.

A video of Ramaswamy, who is enjoying a surge in the Republican primary race, singing along to Eminem's "Lose Yourself" at the Iowa State Fair went viral earlier this month.

In a letter first reported by the Daily Mail, the authenticity of which was confirmed to AFP, music licenser Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) stated that it had received an official request from Eminem demanding that the 38-year-old candidate no longer use his music.

Ramaswamy, who likens himself as "Trump 2.0," has risen surprisingly to third place among Republicans who are in the running for the 2024 presidential primary elections.

As an undergraduate at Harvard, his side hustle was rapping libertarian-minded lyrics with the stage name "Da Vek."

"If you think debater-extraordinaire Vivek G. Ramaswamy '07 is intense, you obviously haven't met Da Vek," The Crimson, Harvard's student newspaper, humorously noted in 2006.