The Last Drummers: Moving Off the Tracks

For Khaz Benyahmeen, performing on the train is a hobby. Off the train, it’s a business.

The Bronx native is part of The Last Drummers, a group that started playing congas on the subway five years ago.

“People are judging negatively, like you’re not well off, possibly homeless, or maybe a little crazy,” Benyahmeen said. “And you do have to be a little crazy to put yourself out there.”

With a black t-shirt bearing the group’s name, Benyahmeen’s self-introduction might stir a familiar sense of irritation in commuters. Like many other subway performers, he starts with “ladies and gentlemen” and reiterate phrases like “positive energy” and “showtime.”

He targets subway lines that have long stretches between stops, where the group can “make a point” in about two to three minutes.

As soon as the train’s doors are slammed shut, Benyahmeen puts out a foldable chair and starts to tap vigorously on a crimson conga. Before the 2 train makes its next stop, he wraps it up and greets commuters with a huge grin.

After every performance, he hands out business cards and announces The Last Drummer’s offerings, which range from one-on-one training to yoga lessons.

“We try to cover all basis,” he said. “We’re establishing our online presence and connecting with a lot of people.”

Before Benyahmeen became fully committed to drumming, he dabbled in acting. He’s appeared on screens for shows like Law & Order, Sommersby, and recently in Chapter & Verse, a film on a formerly incarcerated man’s adjustment to a changing neighborhood.

Since he joined forces with his cousins, El Vanterpool and Saa Vanterpool, the group has gotten more exposure and bumped into stars such as retired basketball player Julius Erving (also known as Dr. J) and Cicely Tyson, who starred on How to Get Away with Murder. Both wounded up hiring The Last Drummers to do private gigs.

While Benyahmeen declined to disclose his income, he referred to a daily income of about $100 for panhandlers in the transit system as an indication. That barely covers his living expenses.

Multiple factors have prompted the group to become entrepreneurial, including the police’s ramped up pursuits of “low-level infractions and misdemeanors” and an unstable stream of income.

The New York Police Department has tripled their panhandling and peddler arrests to 345 as of March 2014, but vastly toned it down to only one this year, NYPD Transit Bureau statistics show.

“Sometimes the police department gets different bullets and they have to make a statement in the subway,” he said.

The Last Drummers is seeking to establish themselves above ground, and is reaching out to schools and community-based organizations to negotiate rates and schedule. The Bronx Green Middle School was the first to hire the group as drumming instructors for an after school program. Last month, the group was officially licensed as a contractor rather than a hired employee.

That means The Last Drummers can work with other organizations and firms without forming a limited liability company.

“It’s necessarily for our growing business,” Benyahmeen said. “Everything we do in the train is a step to get off it.”