US rapper Young Cardamom — only slightly better known as Zohran Mamdani — became mayor of New York City based partly on street cred and being connected to young voters. He proved he’s still one of the cool ones on Wednesday, when he revealed he listens to Pakistani singer Shamoon Ismail.
In an interview with Rolling Stone , Mamdani was asked what he was listening to nowadays. “Right now, I’ve been listening to a lot of Radio & Weasel, who are a duo from Uganda who were running the charts for a long, long time. I’ve also been listening to a Pakistani rapper named Shamoon Ismail, who I’ve listened to for a few years. If I’m feeling reflective, throw on some Kacey Musgraves.”
Now, we don’t know who introduced Mamdani to Ismail’s music but we get why he’s on the list.
His choices reflect the mayor’s own diverse background, having been born to a Ugandan father and an Indian mother and raised in New York, and also show how connected he is to the South Asian community he so proudly represents.
While he hasn’t said which of Ismail’s songs are on his playlist right now, this isn’t the first time Mamdani has endorsed music from the Subcontinent either — nobody can forget how he walked off stage after his victory speech to ‘Dhoom Machale’ playing in the background.
Other artists the mayor has expressed a fondness for include Taylor Swift, Jay Z and Kim Petras. Mamdani is also a fan of Indian-American rapper Himanshu Suri — better known as Heems — whom he says is the reason he joined politics.
As for Ismail, his soulful rap continues to be a fan-favourite with recent releases like ‘used to it’, ‘Alone Together’ and ‘VOLUME’ amassing thousands of streams.
The singer recently took some downtime, which possibly included him getting engaged or married . On New Year’s Eve, he resurfaced with a handwritten letter to fans after what he described as a ‘transition’.
