Lawrence Burney, a Baltimore native and culture critic, has released his new book No Sense in Wishing, a memoir that doubles as a love letter to his hometown. The book arrives amid a national crackdown on cities, art, culture, and education, and explores how films, paintings, and song lyrics shaped Burney's personal and professional journey. He writes about growing up among artists with Black family traditions rooted in the Chesapeake, becoming a father at 19, and later moving to New York to spearhead Vice's coverage of lesser-known rap and hip-hop artists.
Burney describes Baltimore as 'heavily racialized' and politicised for at least the past 30 years. He notes that the city was the first to legally implement redlining in 1910, and segregation remains visible today. 'You can go one block away and see a complete universal change,' he says. Despite its societal ills, Burney argues that Baltimore's public image is misleading: 'Baltimore has probably the worst PR of any city in America. There could be great art coming out, but if it doesn't hit those targets, we're not even interested.'
Burney's early writing on Baltimore was driven by anger, particularly after the 2015 Freddie Gray incident. He had personal experience with police violence, as his stepbrother was beaten by police in 2012 or 2013, caught on camera, but received no compensation. Now, Burney approaches the city's issues through a historical lens, examining how its racialised past continues to shape the present.
Burney also founded the zine True Laurels to platform Baltimore artists. He cites a 2017 Vice story about rapper Young Moose as a perfect blend of his interests. Moose, from one of the city's worst neighbourhoods, was jailed on phoney charges days before opening for Lil Boosie. While reporting, Burney discovered that the police officer involved, Daniel Hersl, was part of a taskforce indicted on federal racketeering charges. The story evolved from a rapper's struggle to a broader indictment of police corruption.
