Mamdani Squirmed as His 2019 Rap Video Made CNN Debut — Alongside Scrutiny Over Hamas-Tied Lyrics

By: Carl Schwartzbaum

In a cringeworthy moment of national exposure, New York City mayoral contender Zohran Mamdani was forced to confront his past as an amateur rapper during a live segment Thursday night on CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront — and the Democratic Socialist’s discomfort was palpable. Burnett opened her interview with a clip from Mamdani’s 2019 rap video, unleashing what The New York Post aptly dubbed a “C-grade hip-hop performance” from the candidate’s short-lived alter ego, “Mr. Cardamom.”

Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assemblyman from Queens, visibly flinched as the footage played, offering an uneasy chuckle and wincing smile in response to the unexpected resurfacing of his musical past. “Once you do it, it’s out there,” Burnett quipped, to which Mamdani muttered, “Didn’t think it was going to be on CNN,” in a tone that suggested secondhand embarrassment wasn’t limited to viewers alone.

But the appearance took a more serious turn as Burnett pressed Mamdani to answer critics who question whether he is ready to lead America’s largest city — a charge made more credible in light of both his limited political résumé and past affiliations that have drawn heavy criticism from law enforcement officials and Jewish leaders.

“I would say a campaign offers a glimpse into what an administration would look like,” Mamdani replied, dodging the issue of his rap lyrics entirely, and instead pivoting to a vague defense of his campaign apparatus. “We built a campaign the likes of which the city has not seen in a long time.”

Yet it’s precisely that campaign — and more pointedly, the persona that preceded it — which has come under renewed scrutiny. As The New York Post has reported, Mamdani’s rap catalog under the alias “Mr. Cardamom” includes lyrics praising convicted Hamas financiers and making inflammatory political statements at odds with mainstream public safety priorities.

One song in particular, the 2017 track “Holy Land Five,” raised eyebrows for its enthusiastic endorsement of a group of men convicted in what the Justice Department deemed a landmark terrorism financing case. “My love to the Holy Land Five. You better look ‘em up,” Mamdani rapped in Salam, an unapologetic tribute to five former leaders of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. The foundation was shuttered after its leadership was found guilty on 108 criminal counts, including funneling more than $12 million to Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.

As The New York Post report noted, the case was one of the most significant prosecutions of domestic terror financing in American history, and the convicted men — Shukri Abu Baker, Mohammad El-Mezain, Ghassan Elashi, Mufid Abdulqader, and Abdulrahman Odeh — remain symbols of extremism for national security officials. Mamdani’s lyrical embrace of their cause adds new fuel to longstanding allegations that he harbors anti-Israel and anti-American sympathies.

The Post report also pointed out that Mamdani’s political ambitions — and his tendency to minimize his past — are beginning to draw rebukes from beyond traditional political lines. Perhaps most notably, rap legend Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson took to social media to clown Mamdani’s mayoral bid and offer what he claimed was a $258,000 incentive for the candidate to drop out and “leave New York for good.”

The offer, of course, was more satire than serious — but it underscored the surreal tone of Mamdani’s campaign, one which increasingly vacillates between far-left populism and viral spectacle.

The New York Post has chronicled Mamdani’s meteoric rise and his positioning as the face of a new breed of democratic socialism in New York — one that openly challenges not just Republicans but centrist Democrats such as Mayor Eric Adams. His promise to “Trump-proof New York City” by ejecting ICE from all city facilities and cutting off federal cooperation with immigration enforcement has placed him in the crosshairs of national figures such as Trump border czar Tom Homan, who recently told The Post that Mamdani’s stance amounts to a “declaration of war on public safety.”

Yet while Mamdani attempts to fashion himself as a champion of the marginalized, critics argue his past associations suggest dangerous ideological alignments. His ties to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, along with his vocal condemnation of Israel, have made him a polarizing figure — particularly within New York’s sizable and politically active Jewish community.

As The New York Post observed in a recent editorial, Mamdani’s soft spot for the Holy Land Five cannot be brushed aside as artistic license. “This is not a matter of ‘youthful indiscretion,’” the piece read. “When an aspiring mayor of New York raps his support for Hamas sympathizers, that’s not a beat drop — that’s a red flag.”

Mamdani has yet to directly address his past lyrics in any substantive way. During the CNN segment, he chose to pivot toward his campaign’s alleged grassroots energy rather than answer Burnett’s implied question: Can a man who once praised convicted terror financiers truly be trusted with the safety and stewardship of New York City?

With the general election looming and Mamdani now the presumptive Democratic nominee, questions about his past — musical and otherwise — are unlikely to dissipate. If anything, his candidacy may now be defined as much by what he refuses to say as by the rhymes he once felt comfortable recording.

And if Thursday night’s CNN debut was any indication, Mamdani’s mayoral campaign may have just hit a note more dissonant than even he expected.