Eminem has allowed Joe Biden’s presidential campaign to use his 8 Mile classic, “Lose Yourself,” in a new ad released Monday, November 2nd, the day before the 2020 elections.
The 45-second spot, “One Opportunity,” pulls its title from from the song’s lyrics, and it pairs “Lose Yourself” with a black-and-white montage that features people going to vote, as well as some footage from a recent Biden rally in Eminem’s home state of Michigan. The clip ends with the message: “Vote.”
Eminem shared spot on Twitter, writing: “One opportunity… #Vote.”
One opportunity… #Vote https://t.co/sCUhq4dvAN
— Marshall Mathers (@Eminem) November 2, 2020
Not only is Eminem’s decision to allow the Biden campaign to use “Lose Yourself” a rare move for the typically ad-averse rapper, but it actually comes a few years after he successfully sued a New Zealand political party for using a “Lose Yourself” knockoff in a campaign ad. Back in 2014, National Party candidate Steven Joyce released an ad with an instrumental track that was very similar to “Lose Yourself,” to the point where the track even had the not-so-subtle name, “Eminem-esque.” In 2017, Eminem won the case and the National Party was forced to pay $415,000 to the rapper’s publisher.
Eminem has been very vocal about his opposition to Donald Trump, going back to his 2016 song, “Campaign Speech,” which he released a few weeks before the last election. In 2017, he slammed Trump during a freestyle at the BET Awards and on his song “Framed.” Two years later, BuzzFeed reported that Secret Service agents had actually interviewed Eminem over the contents of both tracks.
