Kareem Rahma shares his take

Taken from the summer 25 print issue of THE FACE. Get your copy here.

Hello Kareem! Where do you get your sunglasses from?

That’s a great question because no one’s ever asked it. I wear this brand called Port Tanger, they feel very cool and I like them a lot. But I also have some Oakleys, some INDY sunglasses and random ones that I just buy off the street. Nothing too swaggy.

Do you feel like you are embodying a different character when you put them on?

Yeah. When I started Subway Takes, I had no idea that it was going to be a massive success. But in case it was a massive success, I thought maybe the glasses can act as some sort of disguise, so that I can actually hang out in New York City without getting pitched.

Did it work?

No, they know who I am. But it’s fine, I’m happy about it. I wanted a semblance of fame so of course I am happy.

You live in New York, but grew up in the suburb of Mendota Heights, Minnesota. That feeling of wanting to move to a big city, what is that? And why do you think it creates interesting people?

I’ve always felt really held back my whole life. I felt misunderstood in Minnesota and I just felt a sense of ennui all the time – a constant, permanent ennui. There’s that desire to be able to explore and essentially extend your childhood. In major cities, you can be a 70-year-old kid. In the suburbs, the minute you turn 27, you’re a grandpa. I have a kid and I have a wife and I’ve been divorced – all of this in New York City – but I still feel fucking 25, which is when I moved to New York. Now I’m 38, and I think I might feel 25 forever.

The show does a good job of being welcoming but also cool, which is a really hard thing to balance. What makes something cool, in your eyes?

I like to think of Subway Takes as a magazine, and I try to balance guests between cool celebrities, which are not necessary for the show, and people who I think are interesting or unexpected.

The people that I like and gravitate towards, I think a lot of them are cool because they’re not trying too hard, and I think that comes off in the show. I’m not trying too hard to pick people. I’m picking people who I think are doing cool things, but I’m not picking people based on other people thinking that they are cool.

Your two most successful projects, Subway Takes and Keep the Meter Running, involve forms of transport. Where does that desire or that need to keep moving come from?

I used to be more comfortable in transit. Like, I love being on airplanes, I love being on the way, whether that means on the way there or on the way home. I enjoy being in motion. And I think that’s also my personality. There are so many things in your life that are Sisyphean tasks. And Sisyphus was pushing that fucking rock up the hill for a long time, but he was in motion. And I think the nice thing about this life is that you can reach destinations, you can change, and you can start one way and end up another one.

Is the New York City Transit Authority aware of what you do?

They’re definitely aware. I think I have some fans within it, and they either give me a pass and are just like, ​“this is the best free advertising we’ve ever received in our lives,” or are genuinely fans of the show. I’m not sure – we’re copacetic.

I read an interview in which you said you don’t like hanging out with people, but you like doing errands together. Do people really run errands with each other in New York, or does that only happen on Seinfeld?

I don’t know if a lot of people do it, but that’s my favourite way to hang out with a friend.

I really think if you asked a mate to do an errand with you in the UK, they’d just tell you to do it yourself, you lazy bastard.

Really? See, I think it’s the best way to hang out, I do it all the time. Return packages, go pick up frames, go return some clothes. Mostly because, again, transit, being in motion, being productive.

[Also] we’re adults, what are we gonna do? On a Sunday night, I’m not gonna text my friend and say, ​“Do you wanna come over and watch a movie?” I’m 38! The only time we’re gonna hang out is when we’re doing something else.

Finally, Kareem – what’s your take?

I hate murals and I would rather look at the bricks. Graffiti murals, street art, all of it – wash it all off. I want to look at the beautiful buildings, I want to look at the bricks, I want to look at the fucking cast iron steel buildings. I want to look at the city, man. I don’t want to see a fucking mural of a girl with a daisy in her hair.