What do you listen to when you run New York City? Frankly, it’s hard to wrap your mind around any politician having the time to truly listen to music in the first place. Otherwise, you’d think a New Yorker sticks with distinctly New York music. The mecca of hip-hop holds a lot of all-time rappers that speak to the ethos of the Big Apple. Plenty of indie rock records like “New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down” by LCD Soundsystem speak to certain subsections of the five boroughs. Maybe just classic Frank Sinatra. But what about country?
For Mayor Zohran Mamdani, there’s room for a little warm pedal steel guitar. Despite it largely being associated with the South, he connects a lot with one country act in particular. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Mamdani shared some of the music that he plays in between working for New York’s greater interests. His selections are extremely varied, from Pakistani hip-hop to the warm glow of Kacey Musgraves.
“Right now, I’ve been listening to a lot of Radio & Weasel, who are a duo from Uganda who were running the charts for a long, long time. I’ve also been listening to a Pakistani rapper named Shamoon Ismail, who I’ve listened to for a few years. If I’m feeling reflective, throw on some Kacey Musgraves,” Mamdani shared. “I’m still listening to Golden Hour.“
Zohran Mamdani Actually Has a Great Playlist
For someone so ingratiated in politics, the Mayor of New York is defined by the city first. It’s NYC that informs every piece of him, especially his music. Elsewhere in the interview, Zohran Mamdani recalled going to Tower Records and combing through the many floors loaded with CDs. Whether it was bootleg sellers outside of the building or whatever was on retail, he was there to buy.
“They used to sell bootleg CDs right outside of Tower Records, and that’s where I bought Eiffel 65’s seminal classic. A lot of people only know them for ‘Blue (Da Ba Dee).’ ‘Too Much of Heaven,’ great song,” Zohran Mamdani added.
In fact, the first album he ever purchased was a clean version of Jay-Z’s The Blueprint, a staunchly New York record in its own right. In a recent speech, he warmly reflected on the values he learned from Hov early on. “I learned about the importance of freedom of expression,” he told the crowd.
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