24/09/2022
Available today at True Laurels ‘Along The Parkway’ premiere + pop up at .official’s Union Market location in DC Need the whole urrea to pop out. 5-8pm. Meet me there 🦀🤝🚨
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True Laurels is a publication dedicated to highlighting Baltimore's most captivating music, art, and the culture that informs through profiles, artist diaries, and radio broadcasts Tune into True Laurels on Red Bull Radio every Wednesday from 6-7pm EST. True Laurels is a quarterly print magazine dedicated to highlighting Baltimore City's most captivating and untapped musical and visual artists while integrating that too-often-overlooked talent with coverage of national and international artists.
19/09/2022
🚨 THIS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24TH. 5-8pm🚨 True Laurels Presents: A premiere screening of ‘Along The Parkway’ Episode 1 before it’s released to the public + a pop up with magazines and limited run merch. Going down at SOMEWHERE’s Union Market location in NE DC.
Screening will be followed by a discussion between Lawrence Burney, Kelow LeTesha, and 93.9 WKYS radio host & DJ, Bacon Bear.
RSVP link in my bio. See y’all this weekend 🦀✌🏿❤️
10/09/2022
oluwa shower me your blessing times 2 🦀🤝
13/08/2022
Grateful to have stumbled upon an article that I was previously unaware before of this week: SPIN Magazine’s December 2005 issue with a five-page spread about the intriguing, yet insulated universe of Baltimore Club.
By this time, club music had locally been a thing for over 15 years and the sound was in a new phase — more chaotic and expansive than before. The Wire had been on TV for three years and its success was making outsiders curious about what was actually happening here. MIA and Diplo had already started interacting with the genre.
The featured artists here were the obvious heavy hitters at the time: K-Swift, Rod Lee, Booman, Scottie B, Shawn Caesar & Blaqstarr. What I enjoy so much about this is that I think it’s the first article I’ve seen from a national publication capture the scene at the very moment it was starting to ascend.
To locals, it was a part of their DNA but the producers & DJs were first starting to be booked to play to crowds outside of their communities and artists from elsewhere were wanting to take a part. But, the reluctance to give away the sauce was strong in a lot of folks at this time. And had always been strong from local artists.
Little details that I especially love here: Blaq wearing a Mosions shirt (an East Baltimore-based apparel brand that was big in the mid-2000s), the writer phonetically spelling how Swift pronounced “serious” with a local accent (sir-ious 😭) and the little tab where the founders of Unruly Records (Scottie &!Shawn) list their top 10 club tracks of all time. 🦀❤️🥺
10/08/2022
The next installment of True Laurels' summer film series is a super special one for me. Sunday at 6pm at The Parkway we'll be showing the amazing 'Two Gods' from Zeshawn & Aman Ali, a personal favorite from 2020. Then right after I’ll be having a discussion w/ the filmmakers + the doc’s main subject, brova Hanif. Slide thru! Flier by .el 🦀🚨🦀
27/07/2022
Gonna be posted up at today for their second annual Design Week. First, an open meet at noon w/ some other great local minds. Then this evening, in conversation w/ True Laurels publication designer .el about developing brand identity over time. Pull up Baltimore ✌🏿🦀
08/07/2022
Happy to share a fun lor series I’ve been planning for the last couples months along with the good people at : True Laurels Summer Film Series. Every 2nd and 4th Sunday this season I’ll be putting films that have inspired me and informed my work on the big screen.
Films that I feel have done a great job zeroing in on specific communities and creative scenes with the necessary care and sensitivity needed. This Sunday’s selection is the iconic Les Blank’s 1973 film ‘Hot Pepper,’ which followed Louisiana zydeco artist Clifton Chenier. A beautiful film that everybody should see, in my opinion.
Screenings will begin at 4pm. Proof of vaccination required for entry. Artwork by my brova 🚨🍿🦀
13/06/2022
My baby goin to middle school 🥺 I’m not ready
03/06/2022
Feelin vurry regal. Vurry presidential. 📸:
04/04/2022
🦀🚨 All 10th Anniversary merchandise is now available for purchase in True Laurels online shop. Hit the bio link! 🦀🚨
1- True Laurels Issue 06
2- Nu Chesapeake Trucker
3- Crab Mallet Keychain
4– 10th Anniversary Tee
5- Nu Chesapeake Flag Bandana
6- True Laurels Tote
31/03/2022
True Laurels 10 Year Anniversary animation by my sister featuring cut outs features + photos from all our magazine issues over the years. 🦀🏆🦀
30/03/2022
🚨 In 2004, one of the most important pieces of East Baltimore documentation was released when t.p. Luce’s Tha Bloc: Words, Photographs and Baltimore City in Black White and Gray was published. In it are beautifully-shot black and white photos (captured between 1995 and 2003) of people living their everyday lives: getting ready for church, loving on each other, shooting dice on the porch, playing video games with extension cords coming from inside the house. There’s poetry inspired by the community which serves as social commentary on what you’re seeing. It documents the transformation of a neighborhood in less than a decade. Tha Bloc is just as much an assessment of the things wrong with American society as it is one of the specific neighborhood that t.p. Luce lives in.
This book holds a special place in my heart because most of it is shot on Ramona Avenue, a street in Northeast Baltimore’s Belair-Edison neighborhood. My family lived on this block from the time I was 9 until about 15. A lot of the people photographed are people I saw everyday. I’ve known some since elementary school and some I still rock with today. And to make it even crazier, t.p. Luce is the father of one of my closest friends.
So it’s extra special to share this as the fourth and final cover of True Laurels Issue 06. For the story, I talk to t.p. in depth about the origins of the project, its legacy, and how he feels about it now that it’s almost 20 years old. Also extremely honored that he allowed me to dig through his archive of photos from the project (some that made the book and more that didn’t) and share them for this story. Link in bio!
Words: Lawrence Burney
Photos: Courtesy of t.p. Luce’s archive
Publication Design: .el
24/03/2022
I first found out about Deetranada by pure chance. I was hanging at Above Ground Studios in 2016 and got word from the guys there that a 14-year-old girl’s family had recently got her studio time as a birthday gift and that I needed to hear her because she was way beyond her years. They played her for me and they were right. I couldn’t believe that a kid that young was that nice at rapping. I reached out immediately and made sure to have her featured in True Laurels Issue 01 back in 2016 (the last 2 slides are from that issue).
Since then, Dee has gone on to do plenty of amazing things. Appearances on cable television as a star teen rapper, a crazy freestyle on The Breakfast Club, named one of the most promising young women in hip-hop by NPR. And most importantly, she’s tremendously improved her rap skillset in the 6 years since I’m come across her.
So it feels full circle to have her featured in Issue 06. Stepping into adulthood with a different set of challenges ahead of her than when she was a 9th grader, she talks about the never ending battle to be fully seen, heard, and considered by a world that it used to her being a kid. The growth has been amazing to witness. Full story link in bio. 🦀❤️🙏🏿
Words:
Photos:
Publication Design: .el
23/03/2022
I’ve known Zadia for some time, mostly from the events she’s been throwing in Baltimore over the past decade to bring creatives in the city together. It wasn’t until a couple years ago that I learned that she was an artist herself after I saw her sing with a live band. It was a pleasant surprise.
In 2020, she surprised me even more when she dropped her first project ever titled Vacants — an 8-track album that featured warm melodies about what we as Baltimore natives needed to do in order to save our dilapidated city. That same year she toured the album on different street corners throughout the city, which I thought was genius. Especially to do it during the pandemic when there wasn’t much to do.
Super grateful to have her featured in True Laurels Issue 06 with an interview that talks about her creative community, how the pandemic forced her to face her artistic fears, and how she wants to be remembered. Link in bio for the full story.
Words:
Photos:
Publication Design: .el
19/03/2022
Fly high to a true trendsetter and a DMV rap legend. This one hurt 😞😞 True Laurels Issue 04, 2018. Goonew had international impact and it won’t ever be forgotten.
18/03/2022
🚨🦀 COVER NUMBER 3! A real dream to finally have the great serpentwithfeet featured in True Laurels — something I’ve wanted to make happen for some time. Born and raised in Baltimore, he’s been one of the most refreshing r&b acts in music for the past 5-6 years.
His music has a bit of gospel, opera, 90s + 2000s r&b, and poetry in its DNA. The type of music that has songwriting so beautifully executed that it’s just as powerful as literature. And with as voice with as much emotional range as his, it’s better with each listen. Extremely honored to have had a long conversation about process and vulnerability for this story. Link in bio! 🙏🏿🙏🏿
Words: Lawrence Burney
Photos:
Publication Design: .el
17/03/2022
🚨 UPDATE BALTIMORE: True Laurels 10th Anniversary Party will now be going down at Le Mondo, located at 406 N. Howard St. Not at The Compound as previously advertised. Same day & time as before: This Saturday from 10pm-2am. RSVP link in bio. You will be admitted with or without RSVP. Free to everybody!
Our Issue 06 Release + Preview Screening remains the same. Saturday from 12-4pm at The Parkway Theater. 5 W. North Ave.
Please update your ppls. See y’all soon! 🦀❤️🦀
16/03/2022
I think it’s safe to say that my favorite rapper in Baltimore right now is OTR Chaz. He’s a snapshot of what the future of the city is musically. He’s incredibly fluid in his melodies while still leaving you hanging onto every line with his rap skills, which, to me, puts him in a rare class of what the city has to offer at the moment. For the past year or so, I don’t think many days have passed without me listening to his music.
So I’m overjoyed to have him featured in this issue of True Laurels with a conversation we had during one of his studio sessions about a month ago. If you haven’t gotten into his s**t, I highly suggest you do that immediately. Story link in bio 🙏🏿🦀💰
Words: Lawrence Burney
Photos: .stackks
Publication Design: .el
14/03/2022
🚨 The second of four cover artists for True Laurels Issue 06 doesn’t really need an introduction. But I’m glad to share that we made this happen. A lot of what the DMV music scene has become over the past decade can be pointed back to Wale, who’s been laying the groundwork for a region that no one really looked to for rap music until he started to bubble.
Over the years, the weight of being a pioneering figure has taken Wale through many phases. There’s often debate about his investment in the local scene since he broke out, whether or not he’s one of the greats of his class, and if he’s stirred the pot so much that people won’t forgive him for it.
During the heat of the pandemic (summer 2020) Wale invited me out to a few studio sessions in LA where we kicked it and had candid conversations about where he is in his career, his desire to be regarded as one of the best ever, and the weight + consequences of being a pioneering figure. I’ve been wanted to make this happen for a long time. True Laurels 10th Anniversary couldn’t have been a better occasion for it. Link in bio!
Words: Lawrence Burney
Photos:
Publication Design: .el
14/03/2022
🚨 The second of four cover artists for True Laurels Issue 06 doesn’t really need an introduction. But I’m glad to share that we made this happen. A lot of what the DMV music scene has become over the past decade can be pointed back to Wale, who’s been laying the groundwork for a region that no one really looked to for rap music until he started to bubble.
Over the years, the weight of being a pioneering figure has taken Wale through many phases. There’s often debate about his investment in the local scene since he broke out, whether or not he’s one of the greats of his class, and if he’s stirred the pot so much that people won’t forgive him for it.
During the heat of the pandemic (summer 2020) Wale invited me out to a few studio sessions in LA where we kicked it and had candid conversations about where he is in his career, his desire to be regarded as one of the best ever, and the weight + consequences of being a pioneering figure. I’ve been wanted to make this happen for a long time. True Laurels 10th Anniversary couldn’t have been a better occasion for it. Link in bio!
Words: Lawrence Burney
Photos:
Publication Design: .el
13/03/2022
True Laurels, Est. 2012. Nu Chesapeake Flag planted, 2022.
Flag design:
Illustration:
Words: Lawrence Burney
Hat embroidery work:
13/03/2022
🦀 True Laurels, Est. 2012. Nu Chesapeake Flag planted, 2022.
Flag design:
Illustration:
Words: Lawrence Burney
Hat embroidery work:
12/03/2022
Every couple years, I find an artist whose music I get hooked on from the first listen and then I dig through everything they’ve ever released. Silver Spring, Maryland native Joony is the latest to have that kinda effect on me. I’d seen his name mentioned by some people I trust for a couple years but I was slow on tapping in. But once I did last year I can’t get enough of his music.
He’s a real chameleon, with music that spans the regional rap style, woozy melodic tracks that feel amazing after a few drinks, and he’s formidable playing with the indie rock sound. His ‘Silent Battles’ tapes from last year still haven’t left the rotation.
And I’m glad to share that he penned a diary for True Laurels Issue 06. In his entry he deals with grief over his late father, opens up about being in a constant haze, and emphasized the need for the love of his family. Hit the bio to read it in full. Out physically in exactly a week! 🦀🤞🏿
Photos:
Publication Design: .el
10/03/2022
The next story from True Laurels Issue 06 that I’m sharing today is a diary written by DC native Zhariah. I first found out about her music a few years back when her song “Metal, Whips, and Chains” went viral in the DMV.
Ever since I’ve been super intrigued and impressed by her being a hybrid of a rapper, rockstar, and do******ix. It’s always refreshing to see artists from this region tap into punk sensibilities since there’s such strong Black punk roots in the area.
In her diary Zhariah talks about leaning into who she is as an artist regardless of the outside chatter to conform and change herself for the potential of widespread consumption. Hit the link in my bio to check it out. 😤😤😤
Photos by:
Publication design: .el
09/03/2022
Witnessing Shordie Shordie’s ascension from having some of the most potential in Baltimore’s rap scene to achieving legit national stardom has been one of the most enjoyable things I’ve witnessed since I started True Laurels. And him being from Northeast Baltimore makes it even better. So I feel like it’s only right to unveil him as the first cover artist for True Laurels Issue 06, our 10th anniversary issue.
In the story he talks about what it’s taken for him to get to that place and I couldn’t be more grateful. This is the first of four covers and even more amazing feature in this issue. Will be sharing those up until the physical release on March 19! Story link in bio 🙏🏿🦀
Words by:
Photos by:
Publication Design: .el
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True Laurels is a publication dedicated to highlighting Baltimore's most captivating music, art, and the culture that informs through profiles, artist diaries, and radio broadcasts Tune into True Laurels on Red Bull Radio every Wednesday from 6-7pm EST.
