Once an aspiring rapper known as ‘Mr. Cardamom,’ Zohran Mamdani, the newly elected mayor of New York City, sent a heartfelt email to Stereogum in 2017, pleading for a write-up on his new single, "Salaam." At the time, he was just another face in the NYC music scene, trying to make a name for himself. “It would be a dream if someone at Stereogum would write about this in any which way,” he wrote, his lyrical aspirations teetering on the edge of obscurity.

"Sorry, we missed this, Mr Mayor-Elect," Stereogum, which features album reviews, tweeted, while attaching a screenshot of an email sent by Mamdani on March 27, 2017.

Fast forward to today, and Mamdani is no longer just hoping for media attention; he’s the first Muslim and Indian-origin mayor of New York City! The same city where he once

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