Steve Lacy of The Internet's big year just got a whole lot bigger. After releasing his solo project Steve Lacy's Demo, and earning a production credit on Goldlink's At What Cost, Lacy has earned his biggest collaboration yet with his contribution to Kendrick Lamar's new album DAMN.
Listed as a producer on "PRIDE," the 18-year-old Lacy has detailed his contribution to the track in an interview on Beats 1 Radio.
"The song I did for him came from this acoustic session that was recorded on my iPhone," he says, speaking of a recording technique he used across his recent demo project. "I showed Anna Wise how to record her vocals and she recorded this whole idea over these acoustic guitar chords I came up with, a small little drum loop that I made and then I took her vocal stems and made a beat over it."
According to Lacy, the two met during a session with DJ Dahi. When Kendrick first saw Lacy, he commented that he recognized him from some music videos, to which the producer replied, "Yeah, yours too man!" causing an eruption of laughter in the studio. "That just broke the ice," he said. Eventually, Kendrick heard the iPhone demo and was so impressed that he asked the songwriter to give him his number. Steve wasn't sure if it would make the cut, but after texting him a little while later, Kendrick confirmed the song would make the final tracklist. "It was called "Wasn’t There" at the time but it’s called "PRIDE" now," he said. "It’s still hitting me I still haven’t fully gripped what I just did."