In 2015, the popularity of Compton-born artist Steve Lacy first began to grow within the audience of California soul band The Internet. This was the year that Ego Death– the band’s third studio album, and their first album featuring Lacy- debuted. With Ego Death, the bass/guitar playing and writing of Lacy first became witnessed in a large context. A typical listener may begin to dub this style comprised of Lacy’s signature harmonies as Mac Demarco-esque, or even entitle the music as a genre-blend between Rock and R&B. However, it is how Lacy himself describes this style of music that purely captures the attention of fans and followers to-be. “Plaid is my genre”, Lacy says in an interview with Wired, telling the story of this realization’s inception as a result of shirt-surfing in a thrift store. Cool as ever, Lacy relates the music to checkered tops adorning his make-up- “there’s a lot going on… but it all goes together to be one pattern”.

It is not only the content provided by Lacy that must be recognized, but the circumstances of how it comes about. The enticing fact is that Steve Lacy is only 18 years old. How significantly his music has matured in a small time frame only echoes this fact even further. What can be drawn from the aforementioned is the age at which Lacy’s appearance in Ego Death came about- at the time, Lacy was only 16, an age at which most of his peers were probably playing at the park while Lacy was playing the guitar for a soon-to-be Grammy nominated band.

“Quit playing on your phone”, Lacy’s companions would have said to the teenager with a knack for scouring through apps on his Apple device. As it turns out though, these apps are different from your ordinary games and social media browsers. Turning away from typical studio equipment, Lacy favors phone apps such as GarageBand, equipping efficiency to sing right into the iPhone and record his instrumental play through a converter plugged into the medium. Ultimately, what comes out is a product of lush sounds that shield this eccentric method.

The music of Steve Lacy can primarily be heard in the demo album he released this year, fittingly titled Steve Lacy’s Demo. Over the span of 6 tracks totaling up to 13 minutes, Lacy pours his heart out onto his iPhone and appropriately creates the great debut project. In tracks such as the highlight “Dark Red”, Lacy’s rhythmic and sensible singing shines over a smooth string and drum combo with lyrics that create a tale of ponderous heartbreak- “Don’t you give me up, please don’t give up/On me, I belong, with you”. Although the project falls short with its length, Lacy creates an album showcasing the dexterity and prospect of himself, giving listeners a glimpse of what’s to come.

Fast-forward to the present day and Lacy has had production credits for artists such as Big Sean/Jhene Aiko, Isaiah Rashad, J Cole, band mates Syd and Matt Martians (on their respective solo debuts), Goldlink, and a now-crazed main production on Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. (specifically the song “PRIDE.”). Surely, the young artist that is Steve Lacy has built up a resumé that gives other up-and-coming artists a run for their money. All we can do now is sit and watch the caterpillar continue to grow into a butterfly.

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