How Hip-Hop Producer Steve Lacy Makes Hits With ... His Phone

(mellow guitar music)

[Narrator] This is Steve Lacy.

You might not know him yet,

but you probably know his music.

He's part of the band The Internet,

He's a producer with people like J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar

and he just put out his first solo music recently.

♫ I don't know it but I feel it comin'

I'm bout to get crazy (laughs).

[Narrator] Oh, and he's 18.

You might notice there's all this studio equipment

behind him.

Steve doesn't use any of it.

Well, other than the swords.

I'm going to show you how I make music on my phone.

I'll show you a little bit of the process.

[Narrator] Lacy records all of his music on his phone.

He's used lots of apps before,

but Garage Band is his favorite.

I started off with a simple drum loop.

(electronic drum beat)

And then the guitar after these drums.

[Narrator] The he plugs his guitar into his iPhone

using an iRig cable.

(mellow music)

[Steve] A little bit of melody.

[Narrator] Then he adds his vocals.

(Lacy singing quietly)

[Narrator] Lacy would rather sing straight

into the iPhone's mic, holding a pop filter

and getting right up close.

♫ Everybody does better

[Narrator] As he works, he just stacks the tracks

on top of each other one by one in Garage Band.

I like to make wherever I am.

When I'm at home, I mean, my phone was my first

before I started going to that studio

I was making beats on my phone,

just making beats on the apps and the drum kits and stuff.

But I'd got this piece call the iRig.

I saw you could plug it into your iPhone

and then I was like, oh they've got amps on here.

See what cool guitar sounds I can get.

Oh, this seems cool, like, dope.

[Narrator] Lacy's kind of a big deal now.

He could use other equipment,

but he likes making music on his iPhone.

There's even something about the sound

that just feels very Steve.

He calls his style plaid.

You know, like the shirt.

Plaid is my genre.

I found that out at,

I was thrift shopping and I was in the Pendleton section.

As I realize, scruffling through the shirts, I'm like,

this kinda looks like how my music sounds. (laughs)

'Cause if you listen to a couple songs

it might sound like there's a lot going on

but it doesn't clash at all.

And plaid,

it's a lot going on.

It all goes together to be one

pattern, you know.

And that's what I call my music.

♫ Babe babe babe

♫ My girl only you babe

♫ You darlin', only you babe

♫ Only you my girl, only you babe

♫ Only you darlin', only you