No Sense in Wishing

“Earnest and engaging.” —The New Yorker

“Fluid yet grounded, colloquial yet exacting, suffused with wit and warmth. In other words: unmistakably human.” —Vulture (Best Books of 2025)

“A powerful collection of essays. . . . [Burney] succeeds at crafting a work that’s as much a poignant reflection on his life as an ethnomusical study.” —Rolling Stone

“Illuminating . . . [Burney’s] rhythm, and what reads like natural talent on the page, is built from a decades-long grind up through the ranks . . . This humility, this honesty, this forthcoming voice with narrative style loaded with tension and questions and possibility: This man can write.” —The Stranger

“For the last few years, I thought I was in need of a new cultural critic to cleave to—until I read Lawrence Burney’s work and realized I wasn’t in search of a critic at all. Instead, I was looking for more of a cultural ambassador. Someone wrestling, not with what they hate but with what they love, and trying to display these touchpoints of adoration, no matter how complicated they may be, for the world to see. That's what No Sense In Wishing is. A series of billboards. Better yet, a collection of love letters with Burney at the helm, not just as pen and hand, but also as the heart unabashedly beating this new rhythm. This is truly a gift.” —Jason Reynolds, MacArthur Genius Grant recipient and #1 New York Times bestselling author of Look Both Ways 

“No Sense In Wishing is a stunning, richly intimate tapestry of affections that, most importantly, does incredible work to pay close attention to the people, things, and places that might otherwise be looked over. Through this, and within these pages, dignity is afforded to an interior world—and how grateful readers should be for that.” —Hanif Abdurraqib, New York Times bestselling author of There’s Always This Year and A Little Devil in America

“No Sense In Wishing is among the most profound and dazzling debuts I’ve ever read. Lawrence Burney writes at once like a rusty-knuckled Southern gardener and a skilled Northern conjurer of the nth degree. The work here is provocative, yet firmly rooted in the exciting fringes of traditions yet to be named. No Sense in Wishing might actually do more for understanding how Baltimore, Maryland is, and what is actually happening in that beautifully black Northern Southern city. I'm absolutely shook at how good the book-making here is.” —Kiese Laymon, bestselling author of Heavy: An American Memoir

“Fluent, sometimes nerdy, and often funny observations about the power of art to add meaning to one’s life.” —Kirkus (starred review)

“Cutting and clarifying in equal measure, Burney’s essays combine sharp cultural analysis with lucid self-examination, resulting in a lively collection that slots comfortably alongside the work of writers like Hanif Abdurraqib. Readers will be rapt.” —Publishers Weekly

“A frank and joyous celebration of Black art as well as a musical coming-of-age story.” —Booklist

“No Sense in Wishing is a sharp, reflective mix of cultural criticism, history, and memoir—a vivid look at a life shaped by hip-hop. Lawrence traces how a handful of artists reshaped his world, capturing the precise way a song’s groove can shake your soul and stay with you for a lifetime. His stories move like the rhythm of a great beat.” —Clover Hope, Journalist and author of The Motherlode: 100+ Women Who Made Hip-Hop