Hands off my music

WASHINGTON: Last week, hip-hop legend Eminem formally asked Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy to refrain from using his music on the campaign trail. Footage of Ramaswamy, who is now in the throes of a popularity surge in the Republican primary race, singing along to Eminem’s chartbusting lead single Lose Yourself, at the Iowa State Fair went viral earlier this month.

The track is the theme song from rapper Eminem’s semi-biographical 2002 movie 8 Mile, a film that owes a lot more than a hat-tip to the African American community, which birthed the genre known as hip-hop, as a form of protest music.

Ramaswamy’s choice of music to karaoke to, stands in stark contrast to his political views, considering this is a man who recently said that white supremacy is ‘rare’, and racism is often ‘manufactured’ in America.

He has also previously launched gratuitous attacks on Juneteenth which he referred to as a ‘useless and made-up’ holiday, while referring to affirmative action as ‘a cancer on the soul of America’. Well, liberal Americans can’t complain that they weren’t warned as Ramaswamy likens himself as Trump 2.0.

He has risen surprisingly to third place among Republicans who are in the running or the 2024 presidential primary elections. To top it off, he has been given the blessings of the great Don himself, who recently said Ramaswamy would make ‘a fine running mate’.

Which brings us to the subject of Trump and his musical proclivities. During the last two elections, arena-filling American and international performers including Pharrell Williams, Rihanna, Aerosmith, Adele, as well as the heirs of Prince, and The Beatles have berated Trump for playing their songs at his rallies without their permission.

Rock icons The Rolling Stones had even threatened to sue the former reality star if the campaign continued to use the British group’s classic hit, “You can’t always get what you want.”

Of course, it seems counter-intuitive to expect Trump to really embody the values of the music that he chooses to play at his campaigns. For instance, during his Make America Great Again (MAGA) rallies, Trump chose to sheepishly dance to a camp gay disco anthem from the 1970s — YMCA by the Village People.

For those who might not be privy to this fact, the Village People happens to be a band, which made middle class white Americans squirm in their chairs for a long time, thanks to the LGBTQIA roots of its band members. The fact that this song was played amidst hordes of unmasked, non-socially distanced homophobic attendees bang in the middle of pandemic-era rally is beyond the jurisdiction of irony.

It must be noted that America has an expansive history of artistes employing their music to protest the politics of their time. One of the most towering figures of the 1960s protest movement was Bob Dylan, who has churned out several landmark songs of protest including Blowin’ in the Wind, Masters of War and The Times They Are A-Changin. Several decades later, bands such as NWA (N***** Wit Attitudes) and Rage Against the

Machine carried the mantle, calling out evils such as racial discrimination, police brutality, and the treatment meted out to immigrants. Unfortunately, politicians bereft of the wisdom of historical and social context employ anthems purely as a publicity ploy, a background score lost in the cacophony of their vacuous ideals.

PS: The frontman of the Village People finally got around to issue a cease and desist order against Trump from using its songs. Trump nevertheless carried on. Oh, the irony.