{"id":184968,"date":"2026-04-03T23:27:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T23:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/184968\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T23:27:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T23:27:20","slug":"cardi-b-to-judge-nyc-childcare-jingles-for-mayor-mamdani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/184968\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardi B to judge NYC childcare jingles for Mayor Mamdani"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani is no stranger to a gimmick (his recent Mayor Mamdani\u2019s Municipal Madness bracket<\/a> will make this clear to the uninitiated), nor celeb cameos<\/a>.\u00a0 So it should come as no surprise that the city\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a video<\/a> posted this morning, Cardi, herself a mother of four, meets up with Mamdani and expresses amazement at his position. \u201cCan you believe that? We\u2019ve got a 34-year-old mayor!\u201d she exclaims. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m a kid, and you\u2019re, like, running New York!\u201d Cardi and Mamdani discuss the importance of free childcare for working moms, with the rapper mentioning how \u201csometimes us women, we can\u2019t really go forward, because we don\u2019t have nobody to help us take care of our kids.\u201d Mamdani tells Cardi that this fall, universal 2-K <\/a>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\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mamdani, who himself attempted a New York rap career<\/a> under the alias Mr. Cardamom, before pivoting to municipal politics, quoted the rapper\u2019s 2017 hit \u201cBodak Yellow\u201d in an accompanying statement. \u201cAs Cardi B says: \u2018I can get \u2018em both. I don\u2019t wanna choose,\u2019\u201d he joked. \u201cWith universal child care, New Yorkers won\u2019t 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\u2014free care in the greatest city in the world.\u201d 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n