Steve Lacy

CTL-E-5353 · Person · musician · 2015–present

VERIFIED evidence grade of this record

Steve Lacy, born Steve Thomas Lacy-Moya on May 23, 1998, in Compton, California, is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer who rose from a high-school jazz band to the center of alternative R&B. He joined the Internet in 2015, while still in school, and made his recorded debut on the band's Grammy-nominated Ego Death (2015), building a reputation for self-produced work made largely on a phone. His solo EP Steve Lacy's Demo (2017) and the viral track 'Dark Red' established his lo-fi, funk-inflected sound, and that same year he produced 'PRIDE.' for Kendrick Lamar's DAMN. His debut album Apollo XXI (2019) earned a Grammy nomination for Best Urban Contemporary Album. Signed to RCA, he released Gemini Rights on July 15, 2022; the album reached number seven on the Billboard 200, its single 'Bad Habit' spent three weeks at number one on the Hot 100, and the album won Best Progressive R&B Album at the 65th Grammy Awards in 2023, when Time also named him to the Time 100.

The record

• Also known as: Steve Thomas Lacy-Moya, Steve Lacy-Moya

Notes

Statistics: 1 Grammy win from 6 nominations listed by Grammy.com, including The Internet's Ego Death nomination (Grammy.com artist page, accessed 2026-10-15) · Gemini Rights debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 with 34,000 equivalent units and 'Bad Habit' held No. 1 on the Hot 100 for three consecutive weeks in October 2022 (Rated R&B, February 2023) · Apollo XXI (2019) nominated for Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 62nd Grammys (Grammy.com) · Curator's Judgment: DRAFT — for founder review: Lacy is CTL's clearest example of the phone-as-studio generation — a Compton guitarist who produced for Kendrick Lamar before he could legally drink, then won a Grammy without sanding down his sound. His arc links The Internet's collective model to a solo career built on authorship, not features. · Photo slot: CLEARED CANDIDATE — Wikimedia Commons File:Steve Lacy @ Rialto Theatre.jpg, C Elliott, CC0, license verified from Commons API metadata on 2026-10-15; description dated 2022-10-30 at Rialto Theatre, Tucson, matching the Gemini Rights era and distinguishing him from the late jazz saxophonist of the same name; direct URL https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Steve_Lacy_%40_Rialto_Theatre.jpg; not downloaded — visual pass follows merge per standing pattern.

Relationships

• Kendrick Lamar — collaborated with
  Steve Lacy produced 'PRIDE.' on Kendrick Lamar's DAMN. (2017), a production widely reported as made on his iPhone.

Sources

• Grammy.com, "Steve Lacy-Moya Grammy Awards and Nominations, Song & Bio" — https://www.grammy.com/artists/steve-lacy-moya/19144/ (primary source)
• Rated R&B, "Grammys 2023: Steve Lacy's 'Gemini Rights' Wins Best Progressive R&B Album" — https://ratedrnb.com/2023/02/steve-lacy-gemini-rights-wins-best-progressive-r-and-b-album-2023-grammys/
• Baltimore Soundstage / RCA Records artist bio, "Steve Lacy" — https://www.baltimoresoundstage.com/events/steve-lacy/

Record CTL-E-5353 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · evidence grade: VERIFIED · 3 sources (1 primary) · 1 mapped relationship · CTL research: PPL-001.
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