Who is Mr Cardamom? Zohran Mamdani’s 2019 viral rap video explored as he declares victor in NYC mayoral race

Mr. Cardamom, real name Zohran Mamdani, has burst onto the New York City political scene in 2025 with a primary win over ex-Governor Andrew Cuomo. But long before his political rise, Mamdani was involved in the entertainment world, especially in the hip-hop music genre.

He has previously released several culture-laden rap videos under the stage name Mr. Cardamom, and now, as he gets ready to enter the mayor’s office, people have begun to revisit Mamdani’s musical past.

That particular video, which is being revisited, is titled Nani, a 2019 tribute to Mamdani’s grandmother, Praveen Nair, a former social worker and chairwoman of the Salaam Baalak Trust, as reported by Rollingstone.

The video stars the Indian actor and cookbook author Madhur Jaffrey as his on-screen grandmother, lip-syncing to a set of playful lyrics. Mamdani, who raps in the song, teases his fictional nani, who believes that she is the best in the world.

The three-and-a-half-minute video resurfaced with the wake of Mamdani’s political career and has been viewed tens of thousands of times. Combining satire and cultural homage, it features Jaffrey boxing, fanning herself with dollar bills, and partying on a food truck.

A look into Mr. Cardamom's early musical career and other projects

Zohran Mamdani was born in Uganda to Indian parents, and he was seven when his family moved to New York. At age 9, in 2001, he bought his first CD, The Blueprint by Jay Z and developed what he called a lifelong obsession with hip hop. It supposedly became one of the ways he could process his identity and the world around him.

"The music gave me a way to understand myself and the world around me." He told The Guardian in an interview.

Prior to going by the name Mr. Cardamom, Mamdani went by Young Cardamom and rapped with his friend Abdul Bar Hussein (HAB). According to Rollingstone, the pair released the 2016 EP Sidda Mukyaalo, which was multilingual and with influences from their Ugandan and Asian history.

The title of the album translates from Luganda to mean “no going back to the village,” representing Mamdani’s second-generation immigrant status in urban environments. On the other hand, songs such as “Askari” confronted issues of racial injustice and post-colonial consciousness.

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Mamdani also co-wrote “#1 Spice” with HAB for the Disney film Queen of Katwe, directed by his mother, the famous filmmaker Mira Nair. The song also included a video appearance from Lupita Nyong’o.

Currently, Mr. Cardamom seems to be retired from his hip-hop career and is focusing more on his political journey as he becomes the first Indian Muslim mayor of New York City.

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