Zohran Mamdani is a 33-year-old Democratic Socialist looking to become the next mayor of New York City. As voters learn more about potential candidates, curious folks have dug up old rap videos from a previous life for Mamdani, who rhymed under the monikers Young Cardamom and then Mr. Cardamom.
According to a 2019 story about actress Madhur Jaffrey in The New York Times, Mamdani made his rap debut in the late 2000s while running for vice president at the Bronx High School of Science. He then partnered with his close friend Abdul Bar Hussein to form a rap duo in the mid-2010s.
They would release a six-track EP, titled Sidda Mukyaalo, in 2016, which finds them rapping in six different languages while paying homage to their Ugandan roots.
Mamdani (Mr. Cardamom) wouldn’t hesitate to touch on politically charged topics in his rhymes and dealt with racism. “When it’s a Black friend or family member, it always takes a bit longer,” he raps on “Askari,” which finds him playing a security guard opening a gate quicker for a white person.
One of the more recent tracks that has gone viral is his 2019 “Nani” video, a tribute to his grandmother, Praveen Nair, who worked for the nonprofit Salaam Baalak Trust. The visual, which stars Jaffrey and even received coverage from The New York Times, has more than 213,000 views on YouTube. It’s the only clip left on his official YouTube account as Mr. Cardamom.
Supporters hopped into the clip’s comments section, saying Mamdani has their vote and they’re convinced he needs to be the next mayor of NYC.
“He’s got my vote, just cause I don’t want smoke with nani,” one person wrote, while a second added, “I don’t even live in NY but please. Please, y’all gotta make him mayor, if only for this banger.”
Another chimed in: “I swear to god Zohran completed every damn sidequest out there lmao.”
The NYC mayoral race continues to heat up in its final days of the primary, with Mamdani closing the gap on former NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo among Democrats in the polls. A recent survey from the Marist Institute for Public Opinion found that 38 percent of voters said they’d rank Cuomo at the top of their ballots, compared to 27 percent for Mamdani.