Lawrence Burney

1 week ago | yahoo.com | Lawrence Burney

I assumed my first few moments around Turnstile would go something like this: congratulate them on their success, small-talk-small-talk-small-talk, inquire about new material they’re working on, and wait for the perfect window to ask how it feels to be the biggest thing in hardcore music. But, instead, the band instinctively senses that I, too, am from Baltimore, and our conversation launches into hyperlocal IRL Yelp reviews of the city’s beloved—and maligned—spots for late-night eats.

1 month ago | justsmilemagazine.com | Lawrence Burney

This story appears in Justsmile Issue 6, Eyes on the Prize. Twenty-two springs ago, an 18-year-old Carmelo Anthony and the rest of his team at Syracuse University achieved what very few thought they could, which was winning the school’s first men’s basketball championship in its then 105-year history. This isn’t to say that anyone doubted Carmelo’s personal abilities as an athlete.

1 month ago | pitchfork.com | Lawrence Burney

Hip-hop is the ultimate loudspeaker for the inventive language being generated on back blocks, basement parties, and school cafeterias in various corners of Black America. Phrases and terms that, at one point, held significance to a handful of folks in small, local ecosystems, if uttered by the right standout artist, have the potential to enter the wider cultural lexicon.

1 month ago | yahoo.com | Lawrence Burney

Illustration by Chris Panicker. KP Skywalka photo by Thaddaeus McAdams/WireImage. Skrilla photo by Garrett Bruce. Hip-hop is the ultimate loudspeaker for the inventive language being generated on back blocks, basement parties, and school cafeterias in various corners of Black America. Phrases and terms that, at one point, held significance to a handful of folks in small, local ecosystems, if uttered by the right standout artist, have the potential to enter the wider cultural lexicon.

2 months ago | pitchfork.com | Lawrence Burney

If a video game allowed you to create a rapper with all the statistics needed to attract mass attention in today’s digital climate, the figure you end up with might look like Philadelphia newcomer Skrilla. Physically, he’s regionless—or, better yet, doesn’t read as belonging to a specific American city. His understated fashion sense (primarily all black) is indicative of present-day Northeastern simplicity, where Nike Tech sweatsuits, Under Armour tracksuits, North Face bubble jackets reign.