“A historiography of a Black Existence that blooms with the care and criticism of its poetry and photography. Full of Rogers' beautiful odes and missives on everyone from Nathaniel Mackey and Lorraine Hansberry to Rakim "PnB" Allen and Tina Campt, and set alongside karim brown's loving glimpses of city life, this book tugs hard at the drawstrings of its sweatsuit and keeps the reader tight and ready, exactly where we want to be.” —Anne Ishii, writer and musician based in Philadelphia and New York, and the program director of United States Artists

“I appreciate that it’s not a traditional text—you can open any page and find a “word” like a holy book. My City Need Something is a collaboration that feels like a barber shop conversation.” —Jeannine A. Cook, owner of Harriett’s Book Shop and author of It’s Me They Follow

“Incredible and inspiring. karim brown's photographs capture the block's electricity, Chris Rogers's writing carries us through its griefs to hope, and together they expand the horizons of our dreams.” —Elias Rodriques, author of All the Water I've Seen is Running

“A meditation on our lives interwoven with fibers that bind us to love despite pain and alienation. Christopher Rogers and karim brown's analyses, prose, and images press us into meditating on Nina Simone's wish to feel free, thus this text enables us to become so.” —Joy James, author of New Bones Abolition and editor of Confronting Counterinsurgency