ASAP Rocky is confident he can out-rap the mayor of New York City.
In a new conversation with Vibe, writer Jeff Ihaza revisited the idea of Rocky battling Zohran Mamdani, an idea Ihaza says someone floated to Rocky during the Met Gala.
“Mamdani ain’t fucking with me. Listen, I'm already coming for his spot 'cause I'm about to be mayor,” Rocky said at the 16:20 minute mark. “So listen, if he want to battle, we could do that. If he want to have a little debate, we could do that too, man.”
During the Met Gala, someone did actually ask Rocky about battling Mamdani. The question made the Don’t Be Dumb rapper laugh. “That was fire. I like that,” he said. “Who you got your money on?”
When the person said, “You,” Rocky laughed again and high-fived the woman.
Mamdani was actually once a rapper. An April report from ABC News revealed that the mayor made $1,643 from music royalties in 2025, a slight bump from his 2024 earnings of $1,267.
In mid-April, when speaking to reporters, Mamdani joked that constituents should "go to Spotify" if they want to help with his rap earnings. "A lot of people say they’re listening," he said. "They’re not listening."
Mamdani started rapping in his teens. In his twenties, he released socially conscious, multilingual songs under the stage names Young Cardamom and Mr. Cardamom. He rapped about everything from naan to colonialism and called himself a "C-list rapper," apparently inspired by the now-defunct rap group Das Racist.
Last November, Mamdani became New York City's 112th mayor. He won the race with just over 50 percent of the vote, with voter turnout surpassing two million—the highest since 1969. He’s also New York City's first Muslim and African-born mayor, and is the youngest person to hold the office in over a century.
