At 19 years old, born in California, singer/songwriter, and producer Steve Lacey has set the bar high for newcomers in the music industry. At his age, he is achieving remarkable accomplishments like producing beats for some of the most recognised hip-hop artists in the world and being nominated for multiple awards.
The way Steve Lacey produces his music certainly puts into perspective that you do not need a recording studio or super expensive equipment to make hits. He connects his guitar to his iPhone using an iRig cable and after testing out multiple apps on his iPhone he stumbled across GarageBand. Steve then goes on to produce his music by layering his beats and vocals onto the software, which is recorded straight into the phone microphone with him holding a pop filter in front. He refers to this as ‘the bare maximum’ on his TedTalks.
Steve described his musical style as ‘plaid’, when speaking to Wired he said, “I was out thrift shopping and in the Pendleton section, as I realised-scruffling through the shirts, this kind of looks like how my music sounds.”
His producing days started when he became a vocalist and guitar player for the band ‘The Internet’. Steve went on to being one of the executive producers on the album Ego Death alongside other band members back in 2015. He ended up being nominated for a Grammy on this album.
Already being recognised for his first piece of work, Steve then went on to work alongside Kendrick Lamar on his album ‘Damn’, released in 2017. He produced the beat and backing vocals for the single ‘PRIDE’. He also produced for artists such as J Cole, Gold link and has even started producing his own solos all through an app on his phone.
The list of collaborations he has worked on is extensive, Tyler the creators’ track ‘911/So lonely’, Vampire Weekend and many others. Everyone is trying to work alongside Steve Lacey and use his exceptional creative style and experience at a young age to experiment on their tracks.
By Connor Taylor-Parton
Reverbium 