I remember being a high school senior: I was 17 and I just wanted school to be over so badly. I was craving the ability to impact and change the world and I didn’t see that happening while I was still sitting in the classroom. When I finally graduated, I was able to focus on writing and The Internet's Ego Death soundtracked that first year. I had been a fan before, but there was something about Ego Death that just made my fingers type even faster on Google Docs. It was a smooth album.

ADVERTISEMENT

Critics raved about it too, and it ended up receiving a 2016 Grammy nomination for Best Urban Contemporary Album. There had never been this much chatter and praise about the band before. Something about the group was sonically different from what was happening on their first two albums and a lot of that can definitely be attributed to 17 year old Steve Lacy.

Steve joined the band before the recording of Ego Death as not just the new guitarist and vocalist for the band, but also as a co-executive producer alongside bandmates Matt Martians and Syd tha Kyd. This was the first time he had ever produced on an album or even produced period. For most of the album’s promotional tour and gigs, Lacy has been stuck finishing high school. In a video of the band being interviewed in October of last year, Matt and Syd jokingly point to an empty spot on the couch that was left symbolically there for Steve. As the band tweeted in March, “For the 3728826 time lol... @stevelacys is finishing school and won't be joining us on tour until Bonnaroo.”

ADVERTISEMENT

The California teen has been missing in action but that hasn’t stopped him from making music and expanding his reach. Steve has found time to co-produce a song off of Jhene Aiko and Big Sean’s Twenty88 album, duet with Kali Uchis, and even produce and write two of his own songs, “When I” and “That’s No Fun.” The former has Steve crooning all over a simple baseline and the latter has Steve telling the common high school narrative of your friends accusing you of being “different.”

Steve Lacy is unstoppable and that’s never seemed to be more of the case as his senior year of high school wraps up and he can finally have the opportunity to join his band on tour. I talked to Steve over the phone—after the school day was over—from California about his start in The Internet, his solo projects, and what the future holds for him after high school.