Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy rapped a part of Eminem’s 2002 hit song "Lose Yourself" onstage at the Iowa State Fair on Saturday.
Ramaswamy had just wrapped up his "Fair-Side Chat" with Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and was signing autographs onstage when the Eminem song started playing.
"Snap back to reality, ope, there goes gravity," Ramaswamy recited. "Ope, there goes Rabbit, he choked, he's so mad / But he won't give up that easy, no, he won't have it / He knows his whole back's to these ropes, it don't matter."
During his chat with Reynolds, the 38-year-old Ramaswamy explained that the song, featured in the film "8 Mile," starring Eminem, is his favorite "walkout song" on the campaign trail.
"I actually like Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself,’ to be honest with you," Ramaswamy said, adding that the song was "young and scrappy."
The choice prompted Reynolds to joke, "I am really starting to understand my age."
Ramaswamy, who has made reaching young voters a campaign priority, appeared on Fox News last month when he spoke about his college past as a libertarian rapper.
"My name’s Vivek / It rhymes with cake," he rapped on "Fox & Friends." "It isn’t about me, it’s about thee, the United States is about liberty."
On Saturday, Ramaswamy told Reynolds that the crushing of free speech and dissent is one of the most "grave threats to liberty."
"Wherever you stand on climate change, I think most of the climate change agenda – I’m just going to say it is a hoax," he said. "Wherever you stand on racial equity audits – I personally believe we’re a country that should have a colorblind meritocracy – that’s my view. But wherever you stand, we should settle that through free speech in an open debate in the public square in a constitutional republic."
Ramaswamy is polling in third place in the GOP primary at 6.1% behind Ron DeSantis at 15.1%, and former President Donald Trump as the clear front-runner at 54.2%, according to the RealClearPolitics national average.
Ramaswamy officially qualified for the Aug. 23 Republican debate hosted by Fox News in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after he became the first candidate to agree to the language drawn up by the Republican National Committee (RNC) to support the party's nominee – whomever that may be.
