Zohran Mamdani Hangs Out Backstage With Wu-Tang Clan to Talk About NYC’s Affordability Crisis

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City’s mayor, shared a new campaign video where he’s seen chopping it up with Wu-Tang Clan, Jadakiss, Run The Jewels and other famous rappers.

The video, which was shared on Thursday (July 24), shows that Mamdani was invited by Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) to attend Wu-Tang’s final New York show at Madison Square Garden. Mamdani also got to head backstage, and was seen in the video hanging out with Killer Mike, El-P, Styles P, Jadakiss and most importantly RZA.

The latter engages in a spirited conversation about the Brooklyn neighborhood of Brownsville, as the Wu-Tang member discusses a generation of residents that feel “stuck” in the community. Mamdani flips the idea of Brownsville being a place where residents get “stuck,” and says that his campaign is based on making New York City neighborhoods, like Brownsville, affordable destinations.

“I think a big part of it is to make Brownsville a place that you don’t have to leave,” Mamdani says. “There are too many people for whom stability, space, raising a family, you can only do it outside of New York City. The whole campaign that we ran on is about ‘How do we make the most expensive city in the United States of America affordable?'”

RZA expresses his excitement about Mamdani idea, and the campaign video closes with Killer Mike telling photographers to stop taking pictures so that he can also discuss politics with the mayoral candidate.

Mamdani’s connection to the hip-hop community makes sense, considering he actually used to be a rapper. In 2015, he collaborated with his friend Abdul Bar Hussein to make a six-song EP titled Sidda Mukyaalo. The politics discussed in the EP were very similar to Mandani’s current socialist platform.

Watch the full video below.