GUNK x Soft Power Vote
Leading up to the Dem Primary in June, SPV is partnering with Gunk on an interview series with local folks you should know about. Up first: Zohran Mamdani. Plus upcoming shows you should go to
LEVEL UP WITH SOFT POWER VOTE
Are you ready for a new mayor, New York City? If you’re at all disappointed by the outcome of the 2024 election cycle (woof), this is our chance to channel that energy towards some progress for the city of hard knocks. Just imagine: Eric Adams—the indicted, library-closing, NYPD-loving Mayor—OUT! YERRR!
Don’t get left out! Make sure your voter registration is up to date for the Democratic Primary on June 24, 2025. Need reminders? We got you: follow @SoftPowerVote on IG, a NYC voter resource, and stay up to date on goofy deadlines (there’s an important one in Feb!), get info on what/who is on the ballot and more info on things like Ranked Choice Voting (it’s baaack!).
Leading up to the Dem Primary in June, Soft Power Vote is partnering with Gunk on an interview series with local folks you should know about. Up first: Zohran Mamdani. Zohran currently represents the 36th district of NY (Astoria) in the State Assembly (the lower house of the NY state legislature). He’s a staunch advocate for affordable housing and rent freezes, free public transit, and universal healthcare. He recently announced his bid for mayor.
This is an excerpt from an interview conducted on October 13, 2020 for the Level Up series by Soft Power Vote ahead of Zohran’s first run for Assembly.
What do you listen to in the mornings?
I recently made a playlist called "Aaraam is Haram" and that translates into, “relaxation is forbidden,” and it's a playlist of relaxing Indian music. It features songs from composers like A.R. Rahman, a Pakistani singer named Ali Sethi and classical music that puts me at ease.
You used to make music?
Yeah, I used to be rapper. My rap name was “Young Cardamom.” [LAUGHS] I grew up with a very close friend of mine in the neighborhood in Kampala, Uganda, where I was born and raised. One weekend he said that he wanted to make a song and said that I should do it with him. The song became quite popular amongst our friends and started to play on music video channels and radio stations in Kampala. Then I moved back to New York and I made a song called “Nani.” and changed my name from Young Cardamom to Mr. Cardamom.
I appreciate the maturity of Young Cardamom to Mr. Cardamom.
Yes, now it’s Assemblyman Cardamom.
Naturally! Did your experience as Mr. Cardamom inform your political career at all?
It definitely helps with public speaking. You know, [NY State Senator] Jabari [Brisport] is also a trained actor and I think that there is a lot of anxiety, at least for me, when it comes to public speaking and making sure that you hit the right notes. When I was a rapper, the ways in which we had to hustle are very similar to the ways in which you have to hustle as a candidate and a canvasser. As a rapper [in Uganda] we would hawk our CDs as people were getting into public buses and we'd rap like eight bars and try to sell the CD. Then fast forward—I came back here, recorded “Nani,” and filmed the music video on the Astoria Boulevard subway platform and a year later I’m canvassing the same platform as a candidate.
Does being creative give you a unique approach to politics?
Being immersed in a world outside of one that was explicitly political helps you to understand how to break things down and to make them interesting and applicable to people's lives. As a candidate, I've found it very effective when speaking to people, to have a little more fun with it, because a lot of times [politics] is made to feel so serious, so inaccessible, and a real chore to get excited about and to understand. On the other side, it probably led to me spending a little too much time on our merch, because I'm a washed up sneakerhead.
When did voting become important to you?
I only became a U.S. citizen in 2018. Prior to that, I was a Ugandan citizen, but now I have dual nationality. The recent history of voting in Uganda is one that doesn't inspire as much confidence because of the ways in which the ruling party has really chipped away at people's belief in the sanctity of their vote. And so I had never actually voted prior to 2018, when I became a [US] citizen, and I voted that year for Cynthia Nixon for Governor.
How do you then inspire people to vote if they’re disenchanted by the political process?
Voting is simply one tool in your toolbox. It is not the beginning or the end of your participation in democracy. If your participation in democracy is passive—and by that, I mean, you show up once every four years—then it's going to be very hard to imagine a future where we have anything better than the lesser of two evils. But if your participation in democracy is an active one, one that begins [before Election Day], you can find yourself playing a larger role in determining who is actually on that ballot.
Great point. Local politics are also within reach, whereas the national level can often feel so distant.
Turnout in local elections is so dismal, but if an elected official receives even just 10 people calling them or sending an email about an issue that they hadn't heard about prior, it will light a fire under their ass and can stimulate at least some kind of a response to that issue that you care about.
What inspired you to run for the Assembly?
A friend of mine asked me to run for the seat after an electoral working group meeting at Queens DSA, which is my political home. I decided to do so [because] I worked as a foreclosure prevention housing counselor for low to moderate-income homeowners, typically homeowners of color, immigrant homeowners, across the borough of Queens. My job was to put their lives back together after they’ve been broken into a million pieces by a sudden job loss, an unexpected medical emergency, something happening in their family, and all those things resulting in them defaulting on their mortgage. I am so proud of the work that I and my colleagues did.
In New York state, the true power rests at the state level. The City Council's power is typically limited to determining the NYC budget, policies with regards to schools in NYC, to streets in NYC, bus lines, bike lanes, and the police. But if you're talking about housing, transit, healthcare, criminal justice, almost everything else, you can change those laws up in Albany.
compiled by Melissa Saenz Gordon
updated playlist featuring some new releases. renny conti, fust, dead gowns, eliza niemi and more.
upcoming cool shows:
1/23 Claire Rousay @ TV EYE
1/23 This is Lorelei x Starcleaner Reunion @ Nightclub 101
1/24 Renny Conti x Blue Ranger x Hemlock @ Baby’s
1/25 Greg Freeman x Ekko Astral @ Nightclub 101
1/25 22 degree halo x h Pruz @ Elsewhere
1/25 porridge radio x sluice @ Warsaw
1/25 abortion access benefit show (Augustus Muller (of Boy Harsher) (DJ), Cherry Glazerr, Dazegxd, GIFT, Guerilla Toss, Julia² (DJ), Kassie Krut (DJ), Meg Elsier, Model/Actriz (DJ), Sex Week, and Taraneh) @ bowery ballroom
1/28 adelyn strei x leah rando x alex harwood @ cassette
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