In 2016, then 24-year-old Young Cardamom, a singer that was still trying to find his voice in Kampala, knew too well that going back to the village wasn’t on the table. Why? He didn’t have a village to go back to.
He was the half of the singing duo Young Cardamom & HAB who had just released their debut single Sidda Mukyaalo.
During an interview with Okay Africa, he recounted how a bodaboda rider had inspired the name of the EP. The rider had passed them dressed in leather, head to toe. At the back of his jacket was a writing…. ‘NO GOING BACK TO THE VILLAGE’.
“That quote is true for that boda man, and it’s true for the two of us as well, although for different reasons. I can’t go back to the village because, as an Asian Ugandan, I simply do not have any village. The city is all I have,” said the third-generation Asian Ugandan whose family came to East Africa in the early 1900s.
Though both of them grew up together in Buziga, an outskirt of Kampala, it’s fair to say HAB (real names Hussein Abdul Bar) had far better contingency if the worst came to the worst.
“For people who have roots in other countries, there’s no village to go back to — it’s either Kampala or bust. So it kind of speaks to that side of my cultural identity as well,” Young Cardamom said. Perhaps as a manifestation that the only way there was to go was up – beyond Kampala city. Beyond the entertainment bubble even. In hindsight, this manifestation has come full circle.
This was before another project – #1 Spice – one of the soundtracks in the 2016 film Queen of Katwe that lent a groovy and vibrant mood to the sports biopic about Ugandan chess player, Phiona Mutesi. The film was directed by Zohran’s mom, Mira Nair.
“We were looking for an original song for two important scenes, but none of the ones that came our way worked or made sense to the story. Mira really wanted to include an original song, though, and it had to be something that the character could sing along to in two scenes,” he told Teen Vogue back in 2016.
“So, she said, ‘Just try making something. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work’. So, we did and it ended up being a song that could honor both of those moments.”
When he relocated to Queens, New York, his stage name changed to Wild Cardamom. There, he once held a microphone in a grimy Queens basement screaming rhymes that embodied Kampala’s spirit—tales of pride, identity, and suffering. This Ugandan-Indian-New Yorker, who grew up surrounded by his mother Mira Nair’s cinematic genius (think Salaam Bombay! and Monsoon Wedding), is currently a candidate for mayor of New York City in 2025. Zohran’s adventure, which includes campaigning for a better city and rocking Uganda’s Nyege Nyege festival, is deeply ingrained in Ugandan culture and art. PLUUGED explores in depth how this Kampala native, who was influenced by Mira’s storytelling, is fusing heart and beats to uplift a worldwide audience while showcasing Uganda’s unique culture.
From Kampala to Queens: The Origins of a Storyteller
In Kampala, where his mother, Mira Nair, was making movies that gave voice to the voiceless, Zohran was born in 1991. Her films—unvarnished, heartfelt stories like The Namesake and Mississippi Masala—taught Zohran to view the world with beauty and resiliency. Considering Mira’s talent for putting the weaker side front and centre, he remarked, “My mother’s films taught me how to make the invisible visible.” In homage of African liberation hero Kwame Nkrumah, his father, Ugandan-Indian professor Mahmood Mamdani, gave him the middle name Kwame.
Zohran was raised in Mira’s Kampala home and learnt from her how to combine pride and suffering into powerful tales. Mahmood’s teaching position at the University of Cape Town led the family to relocate to Cape Town when he was five years old. By the time Zohran was seven, they had made Queens, New York, their home, and they have stayed there ever since.
He proudly combines his Indian ancestry, New York grit, and Ugandan soul. “I am unquestionably Ugandan,” he declared to Jacobin in 2020. However, I’ve been told that I’m not from here—I’m called Indian in Uganda, Muslim in India, and everything else in New York. It’s all mine. He started an organization called Students for Justice in Palestine while studying Africana Studies at Bronx Science High School and then Bowdoin College. Mira’s path is centred on his passion for art and justice.
Nyege Nyege to Queens rhymes Uganda holds a special place in Zohran’s heart. He performed as Young Cardamom at Uganda’s Nyege Nyege festival in Jinja, a cultural powerhouse, where he lit up the audience with rhymes. Kampala’s son’s homecoming was commemorated on X. He collaborated with Ugandan rapper HAB on the 2016 EP “Sidda Mukyaalo, ”which translates to “No going back to the village” in Luganda. The EP explores Uganda’s challenges, including politics, discrimination, and survival, as he grapples with his identity as a third-generation Asian Ugandan.
He attributed his unadulterated, vivid sound to Mira’s cinematic storytelling, saying, “Music was my way to hold onto Kampala.” As Mr. Cardamom, he released “Nani” in 2019. The video, which featured Madhur Jaffrey, the legendary chef, as his grandma, spits out daring lines in a Ugandan-Indian fire. Zohran told Bon Appétit, “Uganda is about community, resilience, and joy,” recalling the chai and biryani that still fill his kitchen from his early years in Kampala.
“It’s not just food; it’s how we stay together and support one another.” His music exudes the same lively, unwavering, authentic Ugandan spirit as Mira’s films. Similar to Mira’s emphasis on the underprivileged, he fought to keep low-income families in their homes as a housing advocate in Queens prior to entering politics. Zohran provides stories that are important, whether they be advocacy or poetry.
The Reason He Selected Politics
Zohran’s world changed in 2020. He told Jacobin that as a housing advocate, he witnessed families being destroyed by a system that “valued profits over people.” “I would bargain with banks every day, realizing that the housing crisis wasn’t a coincidence but rather a decision.” His eyes were awakened to democratic socialism by the Bernie Sanders campaign in 2016, which provided a way to combat institutional shortcomings. Another spark was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s unexpected victory in New York in 2018. “She demonstrated that speaking truth to power could lead to victory,” he remarked.
Zohran joined the Democratic Socialists of America in 2017 and has since volunteered for progressive campaigns, including organizing Tiffany Cabán’s 2019 Queens district attorney campaign and running one for a state senate candidate. He has had enough of being on the sidelines by 2020. He clarified, “I had to change the rules because I couldn’t just counsel people through evictions.” With a grassroots team and a housing justice platform, he defeated a four-term incumbent in that year’s race for the New York State Assembly in Queens’ 36th district.
From Ballots to Beats
Zohran’s victory in the assembly was only the beginning. Incorporating Mira’s narrative into policies that support the weak, he has advocated for cheap housing and free transportation, securing a trial program. Mira told The New York Times, “Zohran has taken over our world—our battles, our tales.” “He’s personalizing it.” In 2025, he is vying to become mayor of New York City after shocking everyone by defeating Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primaries.
His “Roti and Roses” motto, a South Asian nod to “Bread and Roses,” generates an atmosphere evocative of a Mira Nair script, and his campaign is brimming with artistic flair. With pledges for free childcare, free buses, rent freezes, and taxes on the wealthy, he is mobilizing young and working-class voters with the support of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. His plans are criticized as ambitious but nebulous, and a Hindi campaign film provoked controversy since some claim he is overly relying on his Indian ancestry. Nevertheless, Zohran has Mira’s talent for relating to people, and she has won over New Yorkers from Brooklyn to Queens. As Real as the Streets of Kampala You would split a Rolex with Zohran. He chuckles about how New York’s rent makes love a chore, and he met his wife, Syrian artist Rama Duwaji, on Hinge. He used to defend himself by playing football in socks while wearing Nike Dunks, Uniqlo jackets and Bernie Sanders t-shirts. “Uniqlo Uncle,” as GQ called his style, sums him up perfectly: grounded, soulful, and genuine.
Why Our People Are in Zohran
With Kampala’s spirit in his bars and Mira’s art in his veins, Zohran Mamdani is Uganda’s pride. From the stage to the streets of New York, Nyege Nyege has embodied the tenacity of our community. He linked his origins to his struggle for a more equitable city when he told The New York Times, “Uganda taught me how we rise together.” The message of his music and Mira’s movies is the same: nobody is left behind.
