Key Takeaways
- Zohran Mamdani discussed keeping New York affordable enough for artists to live and create there.
- The four-minute video includes footage from Mamdani’s visit to the Bronx School of Hip Hop, with appearances by Fat Joe and other figures.
- Mamdani said New York must remain Hip Hop’s home rather than being content with its status as the genre’s birthplace.
Between rising rent prices and inflation making nearly everything more expensive, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to both live and create art in cultural capitals like New York City. However, Zohran Mamdani is hoping to change that in the future. On Wednesday (Sept. 30), the mayor sat down with Nas to talk about Hip Hop's past, present, and future in the very city that birthed the genre more than 50 years ago.
“We can’t be content with having been the birthplace of Hip Hop. We want to still be the home,” Mamdani opened the four-minute video, later discussing how, for many people “struggling in the city,” making it can also mean saying goodbye to the place they grew up. “How do we also make those neighborhoods the places that, if you make it, you want to choose to stay there?” he asked.
“There’s more to life than just surviving,” Nas chimed in. “It’s all about the youth and how do we get them to avoid the mistakes that so many people made. I know so many people from this neighborhood that had so much potential, but there was nothing showing them a different way.” The two notably sat down together in a park, with the rest of the footage following Mamdani during his visit to the Bronx School of Hip Hop, where Fat Joe and several other icons also made cameos.
Zohran Mamdani explains why affordable housing matters for New York’s artists
Speaking with Billboard, which exclusively premiered the video, Mamdani also addressed the city’s housing crisis and what it means for the next generation. He told the publication, “If we allow New York to become such an expensive city that art becomes a luxury good, then we are depriving future generations from the magic of art. New Yorkers deserve a city that is a living, breathing testament to what it looks like when we create the conditions to help this art form flourish.”
And for anyone who might assume otherwise, no, Mamdani’s interest in keeping the arts alive didn’t suddenly materialize once he entered politics. In fact, before he became New York City’s first Muslim mayor, he actually rapped under quite a few monikers.
As REVOLT previously detailed in our deep dive into his time as a musician, Mamdani collaborated with Ugandan emcee HAB on “Kanda (Chap Chap)” under the alias Young Cardamom. He went on to release music under his first and middle name, Zohran Kwame, before adopting Mr. Cardamom.
Zohran Mamdani says New York has to “forever be hungry” for it to remain Hip Hop’s home
It goes without saying, but New York is home to some of the most iconic rappers to ever walk the Earth, be it JAY-Z, LL COOL J, or Nas himself. Toward the end of the video, Mamdani spoke about the importance of making sure the city remains a place where future generations of artists can chase their ambitions. “To keep writing, to keep creating, to keep dreaming, it’s also a reminder of what the city has to be. We have to forever be hungry,” he concluded.