New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani is no stranger to a gimmick (his recent Mayor Mamdani’s Municipal Madness bracket will make this clear to the uninitiated), nor celeb cameos. So it should come as no surprise that the city’s commander-in-chief has partnered up with rapper Cardi B to promote his free 2-K program, an initiative to provide free, universal childcare to New York families with two-year-olds that is forthcoming this fall.
In a video posted this morning, Cardi, herself a mother of four, meets up with Mamdani and expresses amazement at his position. “Can you believe that? We’ve got a 34-year-old mayor!” she exclaims. “I feel like I’m a kid, and you’re, like, running New York!” Cardi and Mamdani discuss the importance of free childcare for working moms, with the rapper mentioning how “sometimes us women, we can’t really go forward, because we don’t have nobody to help us take care of our kids.” Mamdani tells Cardi that this fall, universal 2-K will begin in the city, with enrollment for 2,000 seats starting in June. The mayor then asks her to judge the official New York’s Best Childcare Jingle contest, a citywide competition in which local residents are encouraged to submit a 15- or 30-second jingle to the nyc.gov site to help advertise the new program. Cardi B will select five finalists from the submissions, but New Yorkers themselves will pick the winner.
Mamdani, who himself attempted a New York rap career under the alias Mr. Cardamom, before pivoting to municipal politics, quoted the rapper’s 2017 hit “Bodak Yellow” in an accompanying statement. “As Cardi B says: ‘I can get ‘em both. I don’t wanna choose,’” he joked. “With universal child care, New Yorkers won’t have to. For too long, families have been forced to choose between affordable care and staying in the city they love. Now, they can have both—free care in the greatest city in the world.” The 2-K program, which hopes to expand to 12,000 seats by 2027 is available to all New Yorkers. Interested applicants can send their submissions, due April 17, here.