Black Liquid’s Mixtape Single Feature: Segga Spicoli

by | Jan 31, 2014 | COMMUNITY

Segga Spicoli – Mid Night On Broad (Bandcamp)

Youth is a tricky thing. It’s like fire; it can keep you warm, but at the same time it can and will burn you. Segga is upfront about his age, just as much as he is about his ways, and also his wisdom.

Segga Spicoli – Mid Night On Broad (Bandcamp)

Youth is a tricky thing. It’s like fire; it can keep you warm, but at the same time it can and will burn you. Segga is upfront about his age, just as much as he is about his ways, and also his wisdom. The opening track, “North 18th Street,” does a good job of setting the tone for this project, which is only 6 tracks long. Though he keeps it street all the way through, he does sprinkle in a gang of influences, 90’s era technique (“Paid In Full”), confidence, and of course some nonsense (“Substance Abuse”). Curiously the UGK-ish “Sweet Jones Jr.” has what could have been a track by itself tacked onto the end of it, which made me stop and check to make sure I was still listening to the same record. Segga’s lyrics, though simple at times, get the job done while leaving plenty of room for improvement in the form of potential rather than pretension and disappointment. Segga burns with hunger on every offering: to escape his circumstances, to overcome his past and present, to have a future. Sure, he may dream of cars and material things (“Plush Leather”), admittedly he does use the N-word a lot (a syllabic crutch that I believe he is perfectly capable of overcoming), and yes, he talks that “turn-up” stuff a bit, but at the core of all of this is a young talent. That is the very fire in which he burns brightest, and hopefully the fire that The Life he leads will not be extinguished.

[We keep ending up with odd numbers of these mixtape reviews! Sorry about that. Only one review this week, but there’s more to come! Stay tuned. –ed.]

Marilyn Drew Necci

Marilyn Drew Necci

Former GayRVA editor-in-chief, RVA Magazine editor for print and web. Anxiety expert, proud trans woman, happily married.




more in community

There’s a Murder Coming to Richmond, and You’re Stuck on the Train

Virginia Repertory Theatre is kicking off its new season the way any sensible theatre should: with a train, a murder, and a detective who’s just trying to make sense of it all. Murder on the Orient Express is Agatha Christie’s great reminder that people are both awful...

Confederate Nostalgia, Black Voices: The Paradox of Polk Miller

Over a century ago, engineers from the Edison Company hauled their bulky recording equipment from New Jersey to Richmond, Virginia. In 1909, they captured one of the first interracial recording sessions in American history: Polk Miller, a white Confederate veteran...

The Felon Who Built Scott’s Addition

Before the beer taps and condos, before the buzzwords about ‘revitalization,’ Scott’s Addition’s future passed through the hands of a single man: Justin Glynn French. A convicted felon whose empire collapsed in scandal, he set the stage, even if unintentionally, for...

It’s Still Our City | Ep. 13 Stooping RVA

"The joy of finding a perfectly reusable gem on a sidewalk, in an alley, or on a porch stoop is one of the perks of living in such close proximity in the city of Richmond. The FOMO of not making it on your bike in time for a taxidermy dolphin or a surprisingly decent...

Topics: