A$AP Rocky is confident in his ability to win, whether it’s in a rap battle or election — even if his opponent is Zohran Mamdani.
In a clip from his Vibe cover story interview shared Tuesday (June 2), the rapper — born Rakim Mayers — exercised his characteristic confidence when asked about the possibility of going bar for bar with the mayor of New York City. “Mamdani wanna rap battle me?” Rocky said incredulously. “No way he called me out.”
“Mamdani ain’t f–king with me,” the hip-hop star continued after the interviewer reminded him that someone at the 2026 Met Gala had apparently asked him about battling the mayor. “Listen, I’m already coming for his spot, ’cause I’m about to be Mayor Mayers in like four years.”
“If he wanna battle we can do that, if he wanna have a little debate, we can do that, too,” Rocky added. “I’m here to do something, humanitarian work for the city that I’m from. All bulls–t aside, I’m really gonna run for mayor. Watch this s–t.”
Billboard has reached out to Mayor Mamdani’s press office for comment.
Mamdani has been NYC’s mayor since winning the election this past November. He’s made history for being the city’s most progressive mayor to date, and he’s (probably) also the first person to hold the seat who previously recorded his own rap music. During his campaign last year, supporters dug up his old rap catalog, discovering that he released an EP in 2016 titled Sidda Mukyaalo with collaborator Hab under the moniker Young Cardamom.
Rocky, who was born and raised in Harlem, has also been open about his political ambitions in the past. “There are a lot of political affairs that need to be addressed, changes that need to be made,” he told Esquire in January. “I think that I would really do well because I’m a guy that’s for the people … [in] 2029, vote for Mayor Mayers. Vote for Rocky.”
Rocky dropped his most recent album, Don’t Be Dumb, in January, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Watch Rocky discuss going up against Mamdani in his Vibe chat below:
