{"id":588730,"date":"2026-04-17T00:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T00:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/588730\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T00:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T00:24:09","slug":"mamdani-got-a-lil-mo-money-in-rap-royalties-during-2025-mayor-run-tax-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/588730\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani got a lil’ mo’ money in rap royalties during 2025 mayor run: tax returns"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a little mo\u2019 money for Zo.<\/p>\n

Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s shelved rap career<\/a> got a boost from his 2025 mayoral campaign, his tax documents show \u2014 but he didn\u2019t exactly bust a move into the big time.<\/p>\n

The artist formerly known as Mr. Cardamom earned $2,700 in royalties for the year, not exactly all about the Benjamins, but still double his 2024 income, according to his 2025 tax returns, shared publicly Thursday.<\/p>\n

Hizzoner took in $1,643 worth of C.R.E.A.M. from fans listening to his rap songs in the US while he brought in another $1,075 from worldwide royalties, the returns showed.<\/p>\n

Mamdani reported a six-figure salary, but not thanks to his music career. Stefano Giovannini for NY Post<\/p>\n

About 550,000 people streamed his music worldwide in 2025, which is a boost from the 215,000 who listened the year before, according to an estimate based on Spotify profit payouts.<\/p>\n

In 2024, he made $1,267 in total royalties, to go along with his state Assemblyman salary that remained at $131,000 year to year.<\/p>\n

The bump in money for Mamdani came as he became a household name<\/a> after he easily defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and a slew of other Democrats in a primary last June.<\/p>\n

Zohran Mamdani, in a black apron, stands among men inside a food truck in one of his music videos. YouTube\/Mr. Cardamom<\/p>\n

His ascension continued as he won the general election in November and became one of the most recognizable politicians nationwide. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Mamdani traded in his rap career for politics when he launched his a successful state Assembly run in 2019. During his unremarkable stint as a rapper, he even appeared in a music video for his song \u201cNani,\u201d where he showed up in a halal cart, shirtless except an apron.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know I\u2019ll be forever spicy but I\u2019m taking a break from being a spice to answer the question of what happens when a B-list rapper runs for office,\u201d his alter-ego Mr. Cardamom tweeted in November 2019. <\/p>\n

While the Democratic Socialists of America comrade earned six-figures, his wife, Rama Duwaji, failed to even pull in more than four-figures for her often touted artist career, the docs show.<\/p>\n

She reported making $8,800 in 2025, according to the jointly filed tax return.<\/p>\n

The mayor gave up his rapping career in 2019. via REUTERS<\/p>\n

\u201c$140,000 a year is more than enough for a socialist couple living in a rent stabilized apartment in Astoria,\u201d political consultant Ken Frydman said in reference to the pair\u2019s former pad in Queens.<\/p>\n

\u201cA $258,750 mayoral salary and rent-free mansion is way too much for a socialist couple living in Manhattan,\u201d the operative quipped about Mamdani\u2019s new salary and home as mayor.<\/p>\n

The newly married couple were able to cash in on President Trump\u2019s Big Beautiful Bill \u2014 boosting their standard deduction from $29,000 to $31,500 \u2014 giving them a refund of $1,300.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a little mo\u2019 money for Zo. Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s shelved rap career got a boost from his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,5871,216,14735,248669,194,10766],"class_list":["post-588730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-metro","tag-music","tag-rappers","tag-tax-returns","tag-us-news","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}