Earlier this month, Zohran Mamdani went on Hot 97, New York’s preeminent hip-hop radio station, to tell the story of how he first entered politics. It’s a tale he’s told many times: In 2015, Mamdani started knocking on doors for an aspiring Queens city councilman, Ali Najmi. But when he told it this time, Mamdani highlighted the real reason he wanted to get involved.
That reason was Himanshu Suri, the Queens-raised rapper and co-founder of the groups Das Racist and Swet Shop Boys. Suri, better known as Heems, grew up with Najmi and had been campaigning on his childhood friend’s behalf.
It’s Heems.