WATCH: GOP Hopeful Ramaswamy Performs Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself’ as Rap Alter Ego ‘Da Vek’ in Unearthed Video

GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has been a lot of things before he ran for president — a biotech CEO, and investor… a rapper? Yes, a rapper. A libertarian rapper who went by the moniker “Da Vek.”

In a video provided to Politico by an unnamed friend, Ramaswamy can be seen performing part of Eminem’s 2002 hit “Lose Yourself.” Or at least, he’s trying, and that’s half the battle. And this was not a once-in-a-lifetime performance; according to the article, Ramaswamy performed this at several open mic nights at Harvard in the ’00s where he “experimented with lyrics tinged with libertarian themes.”

Politico writes:

The Harvard Crimson, the university’s student newspaper, first caught wind of “Da Vek” in 2006, when Ramaswamy was in his senior year. The paper described Ramaswamy as someone who could go back and forth between two different personas: “The Chairman,” named for his role atop the Harvard Political Union, and his rapper alter-ego.

Da Vek “only emerges when Ramaswamy is outfitted entirely in black, complete with a black Kangol hat,” the Crimson said.

Despite the Kendall Roy vibes, Ramaswamy fully acknowledges his rap dabbling, saying he was simply inspired by Eminem’s lyrics at the time, and he told Politico: “I follow my passions, they’re not all in politics.”

Cringe as this may be, he gave it a try, just like he’s giving a presidential race a try! That’s more than a lot of us can claim. Here’s holding out hope that Da Vek makes an appearance on the campaign trail.

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