New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has revealed his top five favourite rappers of all time.
The list of his favourite hip-hop artists comes as, before he was elected into office, Mamdani had a music career of his own, and performed under the names Young Cardamom and Mr. Cardamom.
He released an EP back in 2016 called ‘Sidda Mukyaalo’, which saw him join forces with HAB, and his music often celebrated his Indian and Ugandan heritage. After calling it quits with his music career, Mamdani entered city hall, and was voted to be NYC Mayor in November – beating Republican activist Curtis Sliwa and independent former Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo.
Since his election though, people haven’t forgotten about his hip-hop roots, and after a new interview with Jose Vilson about children’s education, the host rounded things off by asking the mayor to name his top five favourite rappers of all time, dead or alive.
Top of the list for Mamdani was iconic rap star Notorious B.I.G, followed by Jay-Z, and Nas – off of which were born in New York.
Rounding off the list, the mayor went for Chicago veterans Lupe Fiasco and Common. Check out the moment in the clip above.
Mamdani was elected on November 4, and inaugurated on New Year’s Day with a performance of ‘Bread And Roses’ from Lucy Dacus.
Since then, Kim Petras has offered to send Zohran Mamdani her new album if he does one thing for New York City, and Michael Rapaport has declared that he will be running for mayor of New York City in 2029, in an attempt to oust the newly elected Mamdani.
Just days before the election at the end of 2025, Mamdani made headlines after he was spotted in the crowd at a PinkPantheress gig. The gig took place as the producer kicked off her ‘An Evening With PinkPantheress’ North American tour with a show at the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn.