Photo Credit: Zohran Mamdani by Bingjiefu He / CC by 4.0
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is still earning royalties from his fleeting rap career, reporting $1,643 in 2025 and $1,267 in 2024.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani saw renewed interest in his short-lived rap career after his mayoral candidacy. The music he recorded as Young Cardamom and Mr. Cardamom earned him $1,643 in royalties last year, according to The New York Times.
But he actually had recent success as a rapper even before his mayoral run, reporting another $1,267 in royalties in 2024, while he was a member of the New York State Assembly.
According to Billboard, 74% of U.S. streams for Mamdani’s Sidda Mukyallo (2016), his joint EP with HAB (Abdul Bar Hussein), were from last year, stemming from interest following his successful election. The album raked in 58,000 on-demand streams. Specifically, his most popular songs were “#1 Spice” with HAB, and 2019’s “Nani,” which saw 219,000 and 243,000 on-demand streams respectively in 2025.
Last week, Mamdani joked to ABC News that constituents should “go to Spotify” if they want to help boost his rap royalties. “A lot of people say they’re listening,” he said, before walking it back. “They’re not listening.”
Mamdani started rapping as a teen and started releasing socially conscious music as Young Cardamom and Mr. Cardamom in his 20s. He called himself a “C-list rapper,” and rapped about “everything from naan to colonialism.”
In 2025, most of his income came from his work as a state Assembly member, which earned him a salary of $131,296. This year, he’s set to earn a salary of $258,750 as mayor; he became New York City’s 112th mayor in November with just over 50% of the vote.
He is not only the city’s first Muslim and African-born mayor (he is from Uganda), but is also the youngest person to hold the office in over 100 years at age 34.
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