In a discussion no one expected, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and influential rapper Nas sat down for a conversation to discuss hip-hop's origins and its future in a new video out via the NYC Mayor's Office.

Watch the video below:

"We can’t be content with New York City simply being the birthplace of hip-hop," Mamdani tells Billboard. "We want it to still be its home, and that means ensuring that the artists who create here are actually able to live here."

The 32-year-old mayor of the United States's largest city delved further, saying he is working to continue solving NYC's housing crisis:

"If we allow New York to become such an expensive city that art becomes a luxury good, then we are depriving future generations from the magic of art. New Yorkers deserve a city that is a living, breathing testament to what it looks like when we create the conditions to help this art form flourish."

Mamdani is no stranger to hip-hop, as he faced some scrutiny during the mayoral election for once rapping under the alias Mr. Cardamom.

Speaking with Mamdani at a park near the Queensbridge Projects, where the rapper grew up, Nas said hip-hop unveils the truth:

"Hip-hop tells you exactly what your city looks like, sounds like, feels like. It was an outcry from people who demanded things to change and to tell the world what we were going through. And that came from a city that was going through a whole lot."

In the clip, Mamdani also visited the recently opened Bronx School of Hip-Hop on the first day of classes. Located in the Claremont neighborhood of the Bronx, hip-hop is the core of the school's curriculum.

"It’s, like, surreal that New York City Mayor’s Office, the chancellor’s office — this is their school. They said we are going to back this," said Jason Reyes, the school's principal, before quoting The Nototious B.I.G. "'Who would have ever thought that hip-hop would make it this far?' So, it means the world to know that our city is leading the way in a way that no one else has ever done it. And that’s New York.”