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Jay-Z, Nas and Diddy endorse Ray McGuire for NYC Mayor

There’s a NYC mayoral election this year and the Democratic primary is very crowded. Andrew Yang, a former presidential candidate and bodega lover, is leading the polls and not too far behind are Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams, city comptroller Scott M Stringer, and former Di Blasio counsel and MNBC analyst Maya D. Wiley. But only one candidate has the endorsement of NYC hip hop legends Jay-Z, Nas and DiddyRay McGuire.

Making his name as one of the highest ranking Black executives on Wall Street, McGuire stepped down from his position at Citigroup last December to launch his mayoral campaign. He may not have a lot of name recognition yet, but many of his supporters do. His campaign launch video was narrated by Spike Lee and soundtracked by Wynton Marsalis.  Tuesday night, McGuire shared a campaign video — a Zoom call discussion between the candidate, Nas, Jay-Z and Diddy that also featured music biz vet and entrepreneur Steve Stoute, and was moderated by radio personality Angie Martinez.

The people in the video have not always seen eye to eye. Nas feuded publically with Jay-Z for years, and Diddy infamously barged into Stoute’s office in 1999 and struck him with a champagne bottle, resulting in a lawsuit (settled out of court).

“The city is broken and I haven’t heard anyone say anything about it, and everything he’s saying is everything I want to hear,” said Nas. Jay-Z, quoting his song “Empire State of Mind,” said, ““I understand where he’s coming from. It’s just about how many people can we reach, and what’s most urgent now. People come from all over the world, like I’ve got a chance … ‘If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere,’ and that’s what we’re trying to protect.” Diddy said, “We have to realize that New York is in a state of emergency. New York could be the first city that really does something bold to take care of the people. That’s why I was excited about this conversation, just knowing Ray.”

You can watch the full video below.

NYC’s Democratic Mayoral primary is June 22.