Mamdani Has a Chance to Lead With Hip Hop, Not Just Celebrate It
Why Hip Hop deserves a real seat in government — not just a cameo
A short time ago, I sent a policy memo to New York City’s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s transition team. The goal was simple: he may appreciate Hip Hop, but I want to make sure he and his administration understand the real, practical, and often overlooked ways the culture can help strengthen city systems such as education, public health, community relations, technology, and civic engagement. And while soon thereafter there were a few Hip Hop-related or Hip Hop-adjacent appointments to transition advisory committees, I believe there is still more that should be done.
As many of you know, I’ve spent years documenting and amplifying the people who use Hip Hop as a force for social progress: teachers, organizers, clinicians, technologists, peacemakers, teaching artists, and everyday residents who understand the brilliance this culture can unlock when it’s treated as more than entertainment. With a campaign that carried so much of Hip Hop’s spirit, and an incoming administration that I hope will continue in that direction, this felt like the right moment to put these ideas directly on the table.
Below is a public version of the letter (updated slightly in light of the committee appointments, should anyone from the transition team be reading). My hope is that it sparks a wider conversation about how Hip Hop can and should show up in the future of its birthplace — not just as a soundtrack or an arts-and-culture touchstone, but as a uniquely powerful source of strategy, creativity, and community wisdom with a rightful place in the actual work of governing.
And whether this new administration embraces these ideas or not, I wanted to make clear to everyone doing this work — and everyone supporting me — that I’m showing up for us in every room I can.
Let’s go.
OPEN LETTER TO MAYOR-ELECT ZOHRAN MAMDANI
From: Manny Faces
Author, Hip Hop Can Save America! Inspiration for the Nation from a Culture of Innovation; Founder, The Hip Hop Institute for Social Innovation
(Public Version)
Dear Mayor-Elect Mamdani,
Congratulations on your historic victory.
New York has always needed leaders who speak clearly, stand boldly, and build with imagination and humility. Your campaign embodied many of those exciting traits — daring, youthful, multilingual, multicultural, and community-centered.
As someone who has spent years showing how Hip Hop music and culture can strengthen education, public health, social innovation, and civic life, I saw in your movement many of the same principles that I and others in this work have been championing for a long time.
This wasn’t because of any single Hip Hop-flavored moment. Not your past as an aspiring rapper... Not your visit to the Wu-Tang show... Not the cultural references that occasionally surfaced in your content. It was because many aspects of the architecture of your campaign — whether organic or planned — reflected uniquely powerful tenets of this culture which was born in the Bronx 50+ years ago and has been transforming lives ever since.
Your movement carried the lessons and energy found in a true Hip Hop cypher: an inclusive circle of involvement that fosters visibility, equity, and a sense of belonging.
Your organizing had a street-team ethos: decentralized, multilingual, outside in the streets, built on trust instead of transaction.
Your communication had the clarity of the emcee: speaking truth to power in recognizable, relatable, unapologetically culturally responsive dialects.
Your social presence had the spirit of the remix: taking existing platforms and flipping them in ways traditional campaigns haven’t yet learned to use effectively.
And your victory celebration felt less like a press conference and more like a live set: emphatic, a bit rebellious, but universally relatable.
These are not small things. They reflect a deeper cultural fluency, and I applaud that.
At the same time, I think it’s important to highlight something you may already understand, but that must be stated clearly and publicly.
Proximity to Hip Hop — even deep personal or professional ties — is not the same as understanding how to effectively incorporate Hip Hop-informed methods into governance and public systems.
Mr. Mamdani, it’s clear that you already appreciate this to some degree, as the appointments of several Hip Hop-connected appointees to your transition committees demonstrates. As I wrote in a follow-up to your staff:
I’m happy to see that the Mayor-elect has already considered Hip Hop for the transition mix! The work Rocky Bucano and The Hip Hop Museum team are doing is vital when it comes to preserving Hip Hop culture.
From an institutional perspective, his organization’s voice is important.
I’m sure Mr. Mamdani will also understand the need for a fully independent voice when it comes to the type of policy and governance integrations I address and advocate for, and I continue to offer counsel regarding the vast network of ideas, individuals, and organizations that can offer a wide-ranging set of perspectives.
This is very much a “yes, and…” situation. Yes, people like Rocky, Wes Jackson, and Mysonne bring meaningful Hip Hop–inspired industry, institutional, and cultural experience, and their contributions matter. Yes, there are other transition-team members with Hip Hop-flavored roots in arts, cultural work, activism, and community organizing. And yet, the potential intersections of Hip Hop and governance extend far beyond the lanes most visible today.
For example, it’s encouraging to see culturally connected voices on the Arts & Culture, Criminal Justice, and Community Safety committees. However, on committees such as Youth and Education, Public Health, or Technology, it’s not clear that there is any particular emphasis on Hip Hop-informed approaches to learning, wellness, or youth-centered technology — even though these intersections represent some of the most advanced and innovative applications of Hip Hop in public systems today. Including innovators with that systems-level focus would greatly complement the cultural and artistic expertise already present and help ensure that the full range of Hip Hop’s practical applications is reflected.
Many Hip Hop-driven innovations already exist far beyond the traditional industry or cultural lanes most people recognize, and it’s important that our structures create room for them. Well-known figures in and around Hip Hop bring valuable perspectives, but they naturally don’t reflect the full landscape of Hip Hop-informed educators, healers, technologists, and organizers whose work is strengthening classrooms, communities, and public systems every day. My aim is simply to help surface that wider ecosystem so the administration can benefit from the broadest possible range of practitioners applying Hip Hop to real-world problem-solving.
Hip Hop must be viewed not only as “arts and culture,” but as a full-fledged, culturally driven human technology — a system of innovation built from creativity under constraint, authentic engagement, collective problem-solving, and an unwavering commitment to centering people whose voices are too often marginalized or erased.
Across this city, the country, and indeed, the world, there are educators, public health leaders, scientists, technologists, violence interrupters, teaching artists, and community builders who are using uniquely Hip Hop-based approaches to ingenuity that produce real, measurable social benefits. It’s work that is neither theoretical or symbolic. It’s happening, evidenced by individuals delivering powerful, humanity-improving results, often without proper support or recognition.
And yet political organizations, policymakers, and municipal administrations tend to either ignore the depth of these intersections, or if they engage with Hip Hop at all, attempt only to extract its allure without exploring its actual value. They participate in celebrations of the culture or invite “the industry” to the table, without engaging the lesser-known-but-no-less-important people deeply engaged in developing tools for education, wellness, community strength, and justice.
Your campaign reflected the beauty and power of what Hip Hop can actually do when fully applied with intention.
Not only as entertainment, or branding, or even the full culture it represents — but as an across-the-board partner in governance.
Here is some sense of what that might look like:
IN EDUCATION
Use of established Hip Hop-based pedagogies to strengthen engagement and learning outcomes, particularly within historically marginalized communities
Expansion of arts and media pathways that prepare young people for creative-economy careers
IN PUBLIC HEALTH
Partnerships with groundbreaking mental health practitioners/organizations who use lyric writing, beatmaking, and storytelling as trauma-responsive tools
Support of culturally grounded wellness programs created with community insight
IN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Application of Hip Hop’s innovation logics of iteration, remix, and prototyping to support youth STEM and STEAM work
Strengthening under-resourced STEAM programs built around Hip Hop-infused methodologies of making, sampling, and creative experimentation
IN COMMUNITY RELATIONS & PUBLIC SAFETY
Expansion of existing Hip Hop-centered conflict transformation and restorative practices
Use of cypher-based dialogue to rebuild trust between residents and public institutions
IN CIVIC ENGAGEMENT & POLICY DESIGN
Expansion of existing Hip Hop-infused civic education programs that communities can adapt and scale
Development of “civic cyphers” where residents help shape agency priorities and policy ideas
The incorporation of these and other Hip Hop-inspired innovations into existing systems is needed today more than ever, and I believe the birthplace of Hip Hop now has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to do more than reference or celebrate Hip Hop. It has the chance to truly operationalize it.
As a leading advocate for these intersections and connecting these dots, I’ve spent years mapping this landscape, interfacing with the people, organizations, scholars, educators, healers, technologists, and innovators who carry out this work every day, through my award-winning podcast and media ecosystem, my Cornel West-inspired book, “Hip Hop Can Save America! Inspiration for the Nation from a Culture of Innovation,” and as founding director of The Hip Hop Institute for Social Innovation.
It’s possible that folks on these committees might surface some of these people and practices — and I genuinely hope they do. Still, I’d welcome the chance to share the full range of my expertise and findings, offer recommendations, open access to a wider network of established practitioners and organizations, and share our framework for applying Hip Hop’s innovation logic to public systems with your transition team or any relevant offices within your administration.
Your campaign modeled what Hip Hop-inspired politics can look like.
Your administration now has the chance to model what a Hip Hop-informed government can do.
New York is watching.
The communities who powered your victory are watching.
Hip Hop is watching.
And we all want you to succeed.
Congratulations again! Let’s build.
—
With respect and in solidarity,
Michael “Manny Faces” Conforti
Journalist • Author • Cultural Strategist
Founder, The Hip Hop Institute for Social Innovation