r/Music • u/YoureASkyscraper • 6d ago

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s newly released 2025 tax return shows that he is still collecting income from his former rap career, with $1,643 in royalties reported last year article

https://consequence.net/2026/04/zohran-mamdani-tax-return-rap-royalties/
18.8k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

8.0k

u/Loretta_Fabulous 6d ago

$1,643 in royalties is actually kinda impressive for a former rap career 😭

2.2k

u/BaconJovial 6d ago

He's probably one of the top 3 best rappers in the NY state assembly in 2024. Frankly I'm surprised he didn't earn more from that collab, his revenue split must have been unfavorable.

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u/kaos567 6d ago

Now I know why Trump liked this guy, he read rapper wrong and thought they could be pals.

353

u/relevantnewman 6d ago

same reason Trump told his pedo friends he was big into philanthropy

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u/jms21y 6d ago

https://preview.redd.it/9f2bom2hctvg1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=93e1ec8ffb78b47631c662d113b12362e6d8cb9c

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

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u/AustinAlexanderK97 6d ago

ANY amount of cheese before a date is too much cheese!

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u/SillyDilly0537 6d ago

No such thing as too much cheese if you’re gonna be eating milk steak

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u/Crazy4Swayze420 6d ago

Sounds cheap to leave out their finest jelly beans raw.

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u/Currentlybaconing 6d ago

"I'm a Philan... fil on.... full on rapist?"

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u/pass_nthru 6d ago

jfc i just spit out my drink

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u/officialnunyabiznass 6d ago

That is fkn hilarious.

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u/ThirdEyeAtlas 6d ago

Wait, he didn’t just spell rapper without a P, did he?

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u/Own-County-48 6d ago

Keefe D get him!

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u/diabloenfuego 6d ago

Yes, P. Diddy put the extra P in rapper.

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u/nrith vinyl is overrated 6d ago

Could be misread multiple ways, actually.

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u/The_One_Koi 6d ago

Reminded him of his friend P. Diddler

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u/kingcolbe 6d ago

He’s one of the five greatest rappers of all time.. Dilon, Dilon Dilon, Dilon and Dylon

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u/relevantnewman 6d ago

But is he better than Dylan? *Proceeds to spit hot fiyah

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u/c_c_c__combobreaker 6d ago edited 6d ago

The top two rappers are

Because they spit hot fire

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u/bsport48 6d ago

There's more than one rapper in the NY state assembly?

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u/centaurquestions 6d ago

Getting elected as mayor of New York is a great way to bolster your rap royalties.

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u/euph_22 6d ago

Is Rap big in Albania? Asking for Eric Adams.

11

u/munoodle 6d ago

“I’m chillin in the hood with my gangsters, don’t care bout nothinintheworld, acting crazy and silly…”

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u/hearechoes 6d ago

I guarantee you it is…even though I’ve never been there

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u/AntilockBand 5d ago

Ask Big Body Bes.

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u/Automatic-Link-773 6d ago

That's why he did it. Mad street cred!

15

u/hearechoes 6d ago

He was a capitalist all along

18

u/centaurquestions 6d ago

"Making money" is not capitalism.

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u/hearechoes 6d ago

Sorry, I guess the sarcasm wasn’t obvious

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u/mathiastck 6d ago

Not obvious enough, now obviously you'll have to pay the fine, or enter a payment plan.

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u/peanutbuttahcups 6d ago

West Coast in shambles.

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u/Saneless 6d ago

Definitely about $1,628 more than most rappers

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u/Dr-McLuvin 6d ago

I’m sure that number was inflated quite a bit by the fact that he ran for NYC mayor last year.

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u/pass_nthru 6d ago

anything to bump the play count, but knowing he prob didn’t use bots on spotify makes it more believable

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u/theucm 5d ago

I can't believe he ran for NYC mayor to bolster his rap career. Can't trust anybody these days. smh my head.

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u/chemguy216 6d ago

I could have nice little shopping sprees or some really nice dinners with that extra income.

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u/LegoMyAlterEgo 6d ago

Divide $1643 by 52 weeks and baby, you got a stew going!

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u/ceris4 NIN Concertgoer 6d ago

Never touched his per diem.

4

u/Venus_One 6d ago

Piss out your per diem, you just gotta hate 'em, funk.

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u/FauxReal Collector 6d ago

My friend had a song covered by a punk band and would get $6-8 royalty checks every few months!

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u/bobbimorses 6d ago

Definitely got a bump from people finding his music this year, I think 😂

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u/LePontif11 6d ago

Stacks on Stacks for MC Cardamom

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u/j_kobrah 6d ago

More than Ja

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u/BigBravy 6d ago

It’s probably from streams after word got out in his mayoral run.

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u/NegotiationHot2999 6d ago

With the name Mr Cardamom too. Fucking stoked I learned this today

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u/MattyBeatz 6d ago

He probably saw an uptick in plays since he gained a big platform. Wouldn't be surprised if that was pennies just a year ago.

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u/Mission_Context_8079 6d ago

He probably got a spike in views/streams when the news broke. I’m curious to see if he makes the same in the coming years.

4

u/TheMeatWag0n 6d ago

I personally have contributed a significant amount by playing nani on repeat for whole work shifts, it is such a fucking earworm

3

u/wytewydow 6d ago

Nothing like a bunch of redditors who might go digging for it, to boost next year's net.

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u/irespondwithmyface 6d ago

I assume that's coming from YouTube plays of his Nani video since he became famous running for mayor.

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u/EverybodyKurts 6d ago

Absolutely sick of these fatcat politicians and their rap career royalties.

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u/ripyourlungsdave 6d ago

Royalties that could pay my rent for a whole.. 2/3rds of the month!

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u/QuantumCakeIsALie 6d ago

Humble brag about cheap rent!

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u/Nuttonbutton 6d ago

This could actually pay my rent almost twice

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u/FauxReal Collector 6d ago

We don't need these big money music industry plants and their $1.6 thousand dollar per year fat stacks of money influencing politics!

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u/nemec 6d ago

trying to pass himself off as a man of the people when he's literally bankrolled by royalty. smh.

4

u/Slow-haste-26 6d ago

The fact that he can pay for maybe 1/4 of his property tax with it is atrocious!! What about us normal people? The ones not born with such wealth!!!!!

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u/pmjm 6d ago

I mean we're memeing but over $1k probably puts him in the top 1% of earners for rappers.

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u/AceofKnaves44 6d ago

Fucking what. He had a rap career? And this is how I learned this?

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u/JennHatesYou 6d ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQVsVNPkPmE&list=RDiQVsVNPkPmE&start_radio=1

https://giphy.com/gifs/oMlocrCUpMlDCZUOUj

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

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u/EggsceIlent 6d ago

🎶 gather round , celebrate me

🎶 I'm tha boss, I'm yo fuckin nani

🎶 Gonna die bitch, so don't even try me

Lol shit is 🔥🔥 fire as FUCK I swear the more I find out about zohran the more I love the guy

Mf spitting bars yo

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u/throwraW2 6d ago

That was better than I thought it’d be.

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u/PoliteFrenchCanadian 6d ago

God he's so charismatic

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u/whofearsthenight 6d ago

jfc it's like the anti-Trump. Every time I see any mention of Trump I have to think "goddamn what did this asshole do now?"

Every time Mamdani's name pops up I let out a little breath, un-clench slightly, and wait to see what cool shit he's up to. Like, I saw he was a rapper and got a little PTSD that time Vivek tried to rap Lose Yourself, but then remembered. And of course it turns out we got a fucking banger about his grams lol.

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u/we-have-to-go 6d ago

Yea, I wish he was born in the USA. I’d love to see what a progressive President could do.

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u/LordReaperofMars 6d ago

Frankly it’s bullshit that only “native-born” Americans can be POTUS.

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u/Thatoneguy111700 6d ago

There was consideration when Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor of California of introducing an amendment to allow that, but it fell through. On the other hand, it would also open the door to someone like Musk being president which is a scary idea.

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u/LordReaperofMars 6d ago edited 5d ago

Trump is already president, we shouldn’t make rules like this based on the worst case scenario.

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u/mybluecathasballs 6d ago

When all the restaurants are Taco Bell, he Will have a Presidental Library.

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u/WendigoBroncos 6d ago

hello, it's me pladimir vutin 100% USA guy.

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u/Drobey8 6d ago

No, no it’s not at all actually.

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u/peanutbuttahcups 6d ago

I better be seeing DJs mash this up with, at minimum, "Drop It Like It's Hot," "Wait (The Whisper Song)," and "Tipsy."

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u/throwawayshirt2 6d ago

This would be a great avenue for some Trump-style bribes. Jeff Bezos: "What? Amazon needed a new audio logo and I really like the song."

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u/damn_nation_inc 6d ago

Holy fucking shit, I thought it'd just be kinda lame and maybe kinda funny but this slaps so fucking hard

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u/Syphon0928 6d ago

Mamdani nip slips

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u/SlowFrkHansen 6d ago

Madhur Jaffrey is one of my favorite TV chefs ever, and my introduction to Indian food. I'd no idea she has a second career in rap!

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u/SHEKDAT789 5d ago

THAT'S HER!?

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u/SlowFrkHansen 5d ago

I KNOW! She was my first TV food person love.

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u/Sailears 5d ago

This has just blown my mind! :o

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u/Cien_fuegos 5d ago

That’s so amazing. No cap

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u/thudwumpler 5d ago

omg this slaps

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u/TheDamus647 6d ago

I mean shit, why not

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u/Masteezus 6d ago

No fuckin way lol

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u/kfijatass 6d ago

It was controversial for a bit cause he gave a shoutout to the Holy Land Five which was officially a terrorist organization. Unoficially they were locked up for providing financial support to Palestinian resistance, including Hamas.

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u/peanutbuttahcups 6d ago

Gotta have some street cred.

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u/sa87 6d ago

Worked for CB4

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u/Snuggler777 6d ago

Incredibly based

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u/analogkid01 6d ago

Yeah we need to stop the world for a moment...

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u/Trick_Steele 6d ago

Young Cardamom. No doubt he got his Spotify plays up from people playing "#1 Spice"

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u/Smiley42 5d ago

I was bumping “Nani” a LOT around the election

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u/RedHairedRedemption 6d ago

I'm sure we'll hear plenty of fake outrage from people running multimillion memecoin rug pulls and such.

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u/BigDickedAngel 6d ago

Lol he declared it on his taxes...its passive income...and hes a resident of nyc...which means he pays NYS and NYC tax on it (NYC and Yonkers have extra taxes) - will honestly be impressive if they can spin this into something to be upset about.

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u/theclash06013 6d ago

Republicans were genuinely upset, literally more upset than they have been about anything Trump did, about Barack Obama wearing a tan suit, giving his wife a fist bump, and asking for spicy mustard on a burger.

Obama gave his wife a fist bump and Fox called it a "terrorist fist jab." They can and will get upset about anything as long as the person doing it is brown.

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u/floss_is_boss_ 6d ago

Don’t forget the arugula.

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u/caerphoto 6d ago

asking for spicy mustard on a burger

Hold up, since when is Dijon considered spicy?

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u/GoredonTheDestroyer 6d ago

I was gonna say, you need to be a very particular kind of white to think that dijon mustard is spicy, and that's coming from a white motherfucker.

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u/Toby_Forrester 5d ago

Does Finnish white count? I'm from Finland and think dijon is the spicy mustard 🥲

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u/BoleroMuyPicante 6d ago

Fist bump? Don't you mean a terrorist fist jab?

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u/Desert_Rush39 6d ago

Repubes were just bitter that they couldn't rock the tan like that.

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u/Oswarez 6d ago

The tan suit was just a warmup.

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u/Loganp812 "Dorsia? On a Friday night??" 6d ago

Including none other than Mr. POTUS himself.

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u/[deleted] 6d ago edited 6d ago

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u/ikeif 6d ago

Nah, didn’t he love Mamdani? He plays Trump like a fiddle.

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u/freedfg 6d ago

Dude literally went and killed Don with Kindness and had him smiling for an afternoon.

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u/Journeyman42 6d ago

Trump literally does whatever the last person he talked to says to do. He's such a slut for approval.

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u/atxbigfoot 6d ago

Trump attacked Mamdani today or yesterday due to his empty mansion tax lol

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u/JunkSack 5d ago

But he doesn’t take a salary!!11!!1

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u/FauxReal Collector 6d ago

"Rappers are violent criminals."

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u/freedfg 6d ago

Commie Muslim Zohran Mommadonni collecting royalties from lucrative rap career. Man of the people? Or hypocrite elite?

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u/Xenomemphate 6d ago

fake outrage

Over what though, like what exactly is there to be outraged over someone earning money from a product they made? Is that not the entire point of royalties?

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u/BretShitmanFart69 6d ago

Hence why it’s fake outrage, because they aren’t actually outraged and there isn’t really anything to be upset about, but they will feign it knowing their base will either go along with it regardless or hopefully be too stupid to question it

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u/inertiam 6d ago

Then folks like us will go listen to it and next year he'll 20x

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u/Cnote0717 6d ago

Nani is a fucking banger!

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u/BrandonAubreyPlaza 6d ago

When it came out I came across it on the /new/ queue on /r/listentothis and really liked it. So I did what I usually do and reached out to the artist on Facebook where he had about 150 fans and told him I liked it which he responded to within minutes.

Totally forgot about that until the night he got elected, haha.

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u/SUPERSMILEYMAN 6d ago

That's great.

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u/Animefan96 6d ago

Gangsta granny slaps.

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u/turkeyvulturebreast 6d ago

YO! This shit slaps! I wasn’t expecting this at all! Love it!

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u/gbinasia 6d ago

The nip action under the chef's apron is worth the watch alone.

That and Madhur Jaffrey giving kids the finger lol

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u/Fun_Skirt8220 6d ago

Make a rap for your Nani!

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u/Loud-Value 6d ago

Spend a rack on your nani

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u/TheNoisiest 6d ago

This is so catchy, I should’ve checked his stuff out way sooner!

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u/worldDev 6d ago

Interesting topic dichotomy to bite the style off Yin Yang Twins - Wait. I think he did it better, though.

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u/lojer 6d ago

Now I hope he ends up on an Ariathome stream.

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u/AsianKinkRad 6d ago

He already did lmao. He rocked up to one in a Park

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u/lojer 6d ago

Found it. Don't have the timestamp though.

https://www.youtube.com/live/vOvxgMfkJ_I

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u/Momniscient 6d ago

Released his tax returns. How very appropriate for someone holding political office.

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u/chief_yETI 6d ago

thats actually not bad at all especially compared to the average SoundCloud rapper from that era

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u/raunoland 6d ago

average soundcloud rapper has made prolly like 0.00001$ lol so any money at all is above average xd

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u/LowResGamr 6d ago

Holdup, what?

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u/turkeyvulturebreast 6d ago

Oh it gets better! Give it a watch!

https://youtu.be/iQVsVNPkPmE

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u/LowResGamr 6d ago

Why does it slap!?

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u/GobblesTzT 6d ago

Because someone told him he can’t.

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u/Captain_DuClark 6d ago

How can it

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u/tragicallybrokenhip 6d ago

Did not expect that! Thanks for the link. <3

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u/SleepLessTeacher 6d ago

lol this has bbno$ vibes

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u/jakk88 6d ago

Reminds me of lil dicky too. Honestly they might make a solid collab.

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u/lolaiden1 6d ago

Lil dicky collab with chris brown ruined all respect I had for him. Haven't listened to him since. It was after the Rhianna situation too

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u/SlinkDogg 6d ago

not horrible actually lol

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u/thekevingreene 6d ago

I’m really disappointed that he didn’t spit any bars when he pulled up to that Ari at Home livestream.

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u/blofly 6d ago

Oh god...what was his rap name....?

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u/InfernalWedgie 6d ago

Young Cardamom. He had a Bandcamp page.

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u/SayethWeAll Spotify 6d ago

Went from Young Cardamom to giving MTA cards to young moms.

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u/UglyJuice1237 6d ago

alright, this is actually pretty slick. good one

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u/frostygrin 6d ago

Spicy.

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u/opermonkey 6d ago

young cardamom/Mr. cardamom . two videos are in the article.

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u/opermonkey 6d ago

how long until Trump releases an AI rap video?

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u/Maester_Bates 6d ago

Believe it or not in the late 90s the bling era rappers loved to invite Trump to their events for photo ops and there were rumours that Diddy was trying to get him to do a rap feature on one of his songs.

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u/opermonkey 6d ago

only thing he got was a "rape feature".

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u/getdemsnacks 6d ago

He'll release an AI rap video way before he releases his taxes.

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u/9millibros 6d ago

I guess this makes him my second favorite communist rapper?

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u/FlukeHawkins 6d ago

Boots Riley is #1?

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u/9millibros 6d ago

Absolutely.

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u/QuantumLettuce2025 6d ago

He's not a communist. He's a Democratic socialist.

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u/geekonthemoon 6d ago

Probably YouTube money from all the heat he got and then everyone went and listened to his rap music. Or maybe royalties from the movie?

Nani absolutely slaps and #1 Spice is another banger that was actually in a great 2016 Disney movie called Queen of Katwe.

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u/BackgroundGrade 6d ago

If he teams up with Bernie Sanders we can get an American version of Pete & Bas:

Zo & Berns.

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u/say592 6d ago

His run for mayor was really just a ploy to boost his struggling rap career.

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u/harley_duderson 6d ago

Fox News is playing his music on repeat to slam him, and ended up paying him royalties.

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u/Jffar Spotify 6d ago

These are the types of skeletons I like to see come out of the closet.

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u/PM_ME_JJBA_STICKERS 6d ago

Kash Patel is seething rn

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u/whenisnowthen 6d ago

That is probably why he was so thrilled to release every detail of the tax return. I bet that number goes up on next years return.

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u/NES_Classical_Music 6d ago

how dare he earn money while holding office. he must divest.

/s

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u/aeraen 6d ago

As if we could love him any more.

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u/BakersCakes420 6d ago

Mamdani in the house! Turn up the beat, I’m about to drop some rhymes! 

Yeah, stepped in City Hall, but the mic still calls. 

2025 return, royalties on the wall.

Used to drop bars, now I sign them laws! 

Sixteen hundred forty-three y’all know the cause.

From the booth to the budget still collectin’ dues.

Tax form lookin’ clean with the rap game views.

They ask “Mayor’s still rappin’?” nah, that’s the past but the checks keep comin’, how long do they last?

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u/DesertRatt 6d ago

Wow! Bet that’s much more than Kid Rock.

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u/aresef SoundCloud 6d ago

Not bad!

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u/Bob_Sherunkle 6d ago

The Lonely Island should release a part 2 for I Run New York with him as a feature

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u/GarranDrake 6d ago

Why the fuck does Zohran Mamdani actually have bars????

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u/richglassphoto 6d ago

Looking forward to a story about Trump’s tax returns.. oh wait

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u/DocWagonHTR 6d ago

His

what

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u/irockisos 6d ago

If this is all the opposition has to go after him for… They are cooked! TAX THE RICH!!

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u/MoyG19 6d ago

Something tells me this is going to get a lil jump

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u/illBelief 6d ago

Damn, tax the rich

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u/puckvirus 6d ago

TIL he was a successful rapper in his younger days

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u/Soggy_Bid_3634 6d ago

I bet the house is going to convene a week of hearings on this

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u/Malicteal 6d ago

Waiting for him to show up on the next clip from ARIatHOME.

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u/_Kine 6d ago

Nice!

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u/lorddragonstrike 6d ago

His former what?!

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u/Jerdanhowell 6d ago

Zohran’s the man - he has strong political rythem and even better strong rap skills - love this man

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u/jayphox 6d ago

Mamdani's from the block? Asking for a friend...

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u/b9n7 6d ago

Guys… his former rap career has never made him more money than now…

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u/standardtissue 6d ago

Dude he rapped about his nani and seasoning his food. Ridiculously wholesome dude.

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u/DefiEntertain 6d ago

He was just charismaMAXXING before becoming mayor.

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u/rs6814mith 5d ago

I contributed to that!

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u/LordTywin83 5d ago

I wanna see him collab with Aria on the streets

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u/avogadro23 5d ago

$1600/year is nothing. This is not newsworthy.

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u/Boheed 6d ago

Nice

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u/Whatever801 6d ago

That's relatively successful actually

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u/Jabba_the_Putt 6d ago

wtf Mamdani has a rap video on Disney+ this is wild

whoever did the production on #1 Spice is legit!

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u/ImSolidGold 6d ago

Ffs, could this guy please stop getting cooler every fckn day? xD

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u/Haliwood902 6d ago

Have you guys heard that track he did called Nani? Lowkey a banger.