🎤 Eminem vs. Vivek Ramaswamy

Happy Saturday! It’s September 2 — people are talking about the Eminem vs. Ramaswamy spat, the pros and cons of bananas in smoothies, and more.

As always, we’ve summarized and organized the different shades of perspective, so you can see the big picture quickly.

🎤 In the news: Eminem vs. Vivek Ramaswamy

Republican 2024 candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has been rapping Eminem’s songs like “Lose Yourself” on the campaign trail. Eminem issued a cease-and-desist letter.

🎤 CNBC: Eminem sent the cease-and-desist letter because he took issue to his music being used in that way. Vivek soon agreed to stop rapping the songs.

🎤 Hot Air thinks it was a lame move by Eminem. He’s probably upset that Vivek is now more relevant than he is. It happens too often that Republicans try to use music on the campaign trail, and Democratic artists stop them.

🎤 And Fox News says people on social media were annoyed at Eminem, too. One disgruntled tweeter called Eminem “cringe shady”.

🎤 Rolling Stone had a different reaction: “Thank god” that Ramaswamy stopped rapping — we’d heard enough!

🎤 It looks like Ramaswamy has a long history of rapping Eminem: Here's a video of him performing “Lose Yourself” in his college days.

🍌 Cultural trend: Bananas in your smoothie?

A new study found that putting bananas in a smoothie can negatively affect how your body absorbs nutrients. Is adding a banana to your smoothie still a good idea?

🍌 Stylist: A new study found that bananas in smoothies can reduce the absorption levels of flavanols — a compound that's good for your heart.

🍌 And maybe bananas aren't the best for taste anyway? Boston Mag says they often dominate the flavor of smoothies, thanks to their isoamyl acetate content.

🍌 But the “Have Yourself a Time” blog swears by bananas in a smoothie: They make the whole thing creamier and sweeter.

🍌 On the other hand, the “Something Swanky” blog lists plenty of other ways to get a creamy, banana-less smoothie: Try adding cashews, avocado, or yogurt.

🍌 Either way, people will have a hard time quitting banana smoothies. A 2019 survey found that 62% of Americans think it's an appealing smoothie flavor.

Quick hits

☀️ India launched a rocket as a part of its first sun-focused space mission. 860k people watched a broadcast of the launch. (Reuters)

⚫ Singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffet passed away at age 76. A cause of death hasn't been released. (CNN)

🎾 American John Isner retired from tennis after his second-round loss at the US Open. He holds the all-time aces record with 14,470. (USA Today)

💼 In a possible sign of the cooling labor market, US employers added 187k jobs in August, and unemployment rates rose to 3.8%. (WSJ)

That’s it for today. Reply at [email protected] to let me know what you think of our newsletter, or to suggest a topic for next time.

Here at Shades we’re trying something new – quick summaries from different points of view. We think it’s a better way to stay informed and see the big picture. Please reach out if you’re curious to learn more!

- Jeff (co-founder of Shades)