The Drag Queen Hamm Samwich | Interview by Lariscious | Photography by Odemaris Byrd
I first saw Hamm Samwich perform at Sugarland Nightlclub in Williamsburg, Brooklyn a few days before Bushwig and was completely blown away. A live-rapping drag queen is something everyone needs in their life, especially when it is done well.
A Brooklyn native via the Pacific Northwest, Hamm stands out as a true talent with an intellect to match. Hamm’s social media presence keeps me thoroughly entertained between shows (twitter handle: Hamm_Samwich).
Coming up on her one-year drag anniversary on April 27th, 2013, Hamm took some time to talk to Posture Magazine.
You have such a unique perspective on the art of drag. When and where did you get started and what are your influences?
I think it’s important for a drag queen to be deeply enthralled by a certain type of woman. Drag isn’t necessarily female impersonation, but it comes from that part of the gay personality that’s obsessed and fascinated with the power of women. I’ve found myself by no decision of my own emulating a certain type of Greek middle aged woman of the kind i grew up around, although I have no idea the extent to which that reads in what I do.
I got started at Merrie Cherry’s Dragnet a year ago, through an accident of fate. Merrie Cherry was not established then and needed any queen she could get, and my roommate happened to be the DJ, so he wrangled me into it.
Was rapping always a part of your art? How did you start to incorporate it?
I sat on the idea for something like two years before a wig even touched my head. My brother (who makes a lot of my beats and knows more than I ever will about hip hop) pointed me in the right direction, and has always been my biggest supporter. It’s a little like having someone who knows about good wine or something telling you what to look for. And what to look for, in rap at least, is wit, irregular rhyming patterns, musicality, and atmosphere.
All of which are most readily located in the fucking work of the Wu-Tang.
None of the Lil’ Kim shit, I’m sorry.
But drag and rap have always come together. I would never, ever rap out of drag. And even if I occasionally lip-sync nowadays, it’s essentially just a shitty way to kill time at the Hell’s Kitchen shows. “Hamm Samwich” as a persona is not there unless I’m talking.
So you did not begin drag until NYC? Did you have any performing arts background previously?
I have the standard theater kid past you’ll find with most drag queens, high school plays and that kind of thing, one of those insufferable nascent Lady Gaga performer types. I was also a musician, but still haven’t found the right way to talk about that part of my life. I made one album under the name “The Idiot.” Sort of electronic melodramatic pop music that I’m generally proud of, but which I couldn’t manage to sell. I have 1000 printed cds sitting on a shelf in my apartment. I think I’ve sold 3.
I always wore makeup and heels though. I think male musicians who perform without lipstick are disgusting. And anyone who sets foot on stage wearing a flannel button down should be summarily executed.
But being a drag queen is easier than being an androgynous cross-dressing “it” creature. Mainly because you don’t have to worry about going bald.
You mention Wu-Tang as an influence, and your raps are brimming with clever wit. Where do you draw inspiration for the subjects of your writing?
More often than not i’m able to draw on an inexhaustible well of outrage I feel at not having been born a twink porn star.
So any plans for releasing a follow up to The Idiot’s debut?
Yes. I have a bunch of unreleased half finished material that’s not bad, and I’d like to do a split record, half rap half pop. Unfortunately I’ve wrecked my voice from screaming all night in these horrible clubs and can’t sing like I used to. Rehabilitation is not an impossibility, but I have no discipline and no money really for that kind of thing. So yes, I have made some half hearted plans but the whole idea seems a little doom laden.
For Hamm there are some definite releases coming up. The first will be a very cheap little EP with the four old-school tracks that I wrote at the very beginning and have had kicking around for a year. Then the tracks that are a little more produced will get their own release a little while after that.
It’s been an incredible year for you and Brooklyn is all abuzz. Do you have any other projects lined up for 2013 and where can one see you perform?
It’s been an incredible year for Brooklyn drag in general. To be part of some kind of…social movement is something I think none of us expected. At the moment I’m the emcee at Sugarland Nightclub on Sunday nights for a show called “Werk and Serve Sundays” with Stevie Zar and Elizabeth James. I do a show every other week at This ‘n That that’s mostly just me yelling at people. And I have a Wednesday night show at Vlada Lounge in Hell’s Kitchen with Ruby Roo where we basically give people free boxed wine.
Hopefully in the next year I want to put together some nights where I’m more in charge of the concept. Cher Noble and I have been kicking around the idea of a drag competition where nobody wins and everybody goes home happy. And I’d like to start making some film projects with other folks in the scene.
And of course I’ll be auditioning for Canada’s Got Talent.
I agree there is something very important happening that will someday be compared to the likes of the rise of punk rock in the 70’s. How do you want to be remembered when the history books are written?
As Jinkx Monsoon’s ex-boyfriend’s ex-boyfriend.
I’d like to be remembered for things I did rather than things I was. I’m worried my life is too full of excitement and I don’t spend enough time on the exacting labor required to make a lasting artistic product.
Being a working drag queen means running around almost constantly trying to maintain your foothold in this subculture. At the end of your life though you want a back catalogue testifying to your evolution as an artist. You want a LATE STYLE. Sometimes I worry all that will be left are Facebook photos.
