Music and media mogul Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson III has publicly escalated his criticism of newly-elected New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, focusing on the Democratic Socialist’s proposals to significantly raise taxes on high earners and his past comments regarding the NYPD. The dispute highlights the deep tensions between New York’s business class and the progressive political movement that swept Mamdani into office.
In a highly publicized social media post, 50 Cent—whose estimated net worth is between $55 and $65 million as of 2025, largely built on his music career (including his debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin’ with hit song “Many Men (Wish Death)”) and lucrative business ventures like the sale of his stake in Vitamin Water—warned that Mamdani’s fiscal policies would cause “the big money” to flee the city. He capped his critique with a post featuring a tombstone captioned “RIP NYC.”
The Mayor-Elect’s $9 Billion Tax Plan
Mayor-elect Mamdani, who at 34 is the city’s first Muslim, first South Asian, and youngest mayor in over a century, has based his platform on funding expansive social programs—including universal child care and fare-free city buses—by taxing the wealthy.
- The Proposal: Mamdani proposes a 2 percentage point increase in the city income tax for residents earning more than $1 million per year.
- The Data: This increase exclusively targets approximately 1 percent of New York City filers. Projections indicate this small group of high-income taxpayers currently accounts for about 40 percent of the city’s income tax revenue. Mamdani’s campaign estimates that his proposed income and corporate tax hikes would generate an additional $9 billion annually.
- The Conflict: Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) is among the critics who argue this would make the top marginal city-state rate the highest in the nation, potentially accelerating the out-migration of high-net-worth individuals, a move 50 Cent’s post echoed.
Police and Public Safety Reform
The debate also centers on public safety and the future of the NYPD under Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
Mamdani, a former State Assembly member, previously sparked controversy in 2020 by using the hashtag #DefundTheNYPD and calling the police force “racist, anti-queer, and a major threat to public safety.” He has since publicly moderated this stance, stating, “I am not defunding the police.”
However, his proposed public safety reform involves shifting certain non-violent police duties to a new Department of Community Safety staffed by civilian mental-health and homeless-outreach workers.
Crime Data Under Commissioner Tisch: The controversy comes despite significant recent successes in reducing violent crime under Commissioner Tisch, who assumed office in late 2024. NYPD statistics for the first ten months of 2025 show record-low figures in key categories:
- Shootings: The city recorded 596 shooting incidents and 744 shooting victims for the first ten months of the year, marking the lowest figures in recorded history (surpassing the previous all-time lows set in 2018).
- Overall Major Crime: Major crime was down 6.5% overall in October 2025 compared to the same month in 2024.
- Murders: Murders declined by 48.6% in October 2025 compared to October 2024, tying the record low for the month set in 2018.
Mamdani has offered to reappoint Commissioner Tisch, though she has not yet commented on his offer. The mayor-elect’s challenge will be to implement his vision for public safety reform without jeopardizing the current historic reductions in gun violence and homicides.