Mayor Zohran Mamdani Admits He’d Lose a Rap Battle to A$AP Rocky

A$AP Rocky has expressed plans to run for New York City Mayor, and he’s even open to having a rap battle with Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who used to rap in a past life.

However, don’t expect Mamdani to step into the ring and go bar-for-bar with the Harlem native, as the mayor has seemingly conceded that Rocky would rap circles around him.

“Mayor Mamdani is well aware that he would lose a rap battle to Lord Flacko,” said Deputy Press Secretary Jeremy M. Edwards in a statement to Billboard on Wednesday (June 3).

However, Mayor Mamdani has hopes to collaborate with A$AP Rocky down the line to help make New York City a better and more affordable place for Big Apple residents.

“That said, the Mayor welcomes any opportunity to collaborate with his fellow Knicks fan to make NYC more affordable so every New Yorker can always strive and prosper,” Edwards continued, while spelling out the A$AP acronym.

The friendly competition between Mamdani and Rocky was sparked at the Met Gala, where Rocky was asked about potentially battling the mayor. It became a topic of discussion once again in A$AP Rocky’s VIBE cover story earlier this week.

“Mamdani ain’t f–king with me,” Rocky fired back. “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.”

He even doubled down on his plans to run for mayor. “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,” Rocky promised.

It sounds like Rocky’s serious about facing off with the former Mr. Cardamom in the NYC mayoral election in 2029. For now, the Mob frontman’s currently on the road for his Don’t Be Dumb World Tour, which heads to Philly on Thursday (June 4) before Rocky returns home to NYC, where he’ll headline Governors Ball on Sunday (June 7) in Queens.

A$AP Rocky returned with his first album in eight years, Don’t Be Dumb, in January, which topped the Billboard 200.