Steve Lacy has explained that one of the most important choices behind “Is It Cool?” was not a musical flourish or a last-minute production change. It was patience.

In an October 21 appearance clip, Lacy said he wanted SZA to contribute a verse to the track, but resisted the urge to hurry her along. The verse reached him as he was about to turn the song in. That timing gives the story a satisfyingly close-to-the-deadline twist, but Lacy’s account is more revealing for what came before it: he had decided that pushing for the feature was not worth disrupting the creative process.

“I wanted this verse, but I waited. I didn’t want to force it,” Lacy said.

“Is It Cool?” appears on Oh Yeah?, Lacy’s third album. RCA Records released the 10-track project on July 17, with Erykah Badu and Cecile Believe also among its guest artists. The SZA collaboration is therefore part of an album built with outside voices in the mix, yet Lacy’s recollection emphasizes that a guest verse is not simply a box to tick before a deadline. It needs the right creative fit, and that may not operate on the producer’s or artist’s preferred schedule.

Why waiting mattered

Lacy said he and SZA had known one another for a couple of years after being introduced through a mutual friend. He described visiting with a laptop and instruments to find out what she needed. As she worked with his beats, he gave pointers and periodically mentioned the song he hoped she might join.

That distinction is important. Offering a reminder is different from insisting on a result. Lacy said he had considered writing the part himself instead of applying pressure. In practical terms, that meant keeping “Is It Cool?” moving toward completion while leaving room for SZA to decide whether, and when, she had the right contribution.

A feature, in music terms, is a credited guest performance by another artist, often a vocal verse but sometimes a chorus, instrumental part, or another defined contribution. Its value is not merely the guest’s name on a track listing. A memorable feature has to work structurally and emotionally within the song. That makes the writing stage crucial. If an artist has not found the phrasing, lyrics, melody, or perspective that feels right, an early delivery might satisfy a schedule without serving the record.

Lacy’s description also separates two parts of songwriting that can move at very different speeds. He said sounds can come more quickly when he is playing an instrument, while lyrics can take longer because inspiration cannot simply be summoned on command. A beat may establish the pulse and atmosphere of a track, but a lyric requires a point of view and language that the vocalist is prepared to stand behind.

Related coverage includes Steve Lacy Says He Waited for SZA’s ‘Is It Cool?’ Verse.

That is why “waiting for a verse” should not automatically be read as inactivity. The song can still be arranged, produced, revised, and prepared while the potential guest considers their part. Lacy’s willingness to write the section himself gave him a practical fallback. At the same time, it preserved the possibility that SZA’s eventual verse would arrive because she wanted to make it, rather than because she had been cornered by a looming handoff.

A familiar approach to collaboration

The story of “Is It Cool?” aligns with an earlier collaboration Lacy discussed while looking back on “Pride,” the song he co-wrote and co-produced for Kendrick Lamar’s 2017 album. In that case, he was brought into the sessions by DJ Dahi, who played drum loops while Lacy contributed basslines and guitar riffs.

When Lacy had time alone with Kendrick Lamar, he played a song he had begun with Anna Wise. Lacy had taken their acoustic version home and added a beat. Kendrick liked it, but Lacy did not press for confirmation or demand an immediate decision. He left the song with Kendrick and continued on his way.

The uncertainty lasted. Lacy was in London when he saw a leaked track list showing his name in the credits. Until then, he had not assumed the track would be used. It is a striking counterpart to the SZA story: in one scenario, Lacy is waiting for another artist’s verse; in the other, he is waiting to learn whether a song he helped create has found its place on someone else’s album.

Together, the two examples suggest a consistent professional instinct. Collaboration involves proposing an idea, creating conditions in which someone else can respond, and accepting that the response may take time—or may not lead where expected. That does not make deadlines irrelevant. Rather, it recognizes that the people involved have to feel ownership of their contributions for a shared track to become more than an assembly of obligations.

Making space in the studio

Lacy has also described what he values in a recording session: making people comfortable, reading the room, and identifying a creative fit. Those ideas can sound abstract, but they point to concrete behavior. A collaborator needs enough space to try an unfinished thought, reject it, and attempt something stranger without feeling that every moment is being judged as a final performance.

Reading the room is the informal skill of sensing what a session needs from moment to moment. It can mean knowing when to offer a musical suggestion, when to simplify an arrangement, when to remind someone about an outstanding idea, or when to step back. Lacy’s account of SZA writing over his beats while he gave pointers presents the studio less as a rigid chain of commands and more as a conversation.

He has said that the ability to bring an idea to a session matters alongside the ability to play, including ideas that might initially seem unusual. That is a useful frame for understanding a producer’s role. Production can include building beats and recording parts, but it can also involve steering the energy of a room: keeping momentum without making every participant feel rushed into agreement.

In Lacy’s case, the balance appears to have been especially relevant to “Is It Cool?” He wanted a specific collaborator, made that interest known, and gave her material to respond to. But he also kept another writing route in mind. The eventual verse arrived before the song was submitted, resolving the situation without turning the collaboration into a public countdown.

The practical lesson is not “wait forever”

Lacy’s story is not an argument that every project should be held indefinitely for a desired guest. He was approaching a point at which he could turn the song in, and he had considered completing the missing part himself. The more useful lesson is that good contingency planning can create room for patience.

For songwriters and producers, that can mean keeping the main version of a song functional even if a guest contribution is delayed. It can mean clearly communicating what is needed without treating the other artist like a production bottleneck. And it can mean understanding which pieces of a track are still flexible and which need to be locked before release.

  • Build a complete foundation: A track with a viable arrangement and alternate vocal plan is less vulnerable to a late change.
  • Give useful context: Beats, rough mixes, and a clear sense of the song’s direction help a guest find a natural entry point.
  • Use reminders, not pressure: Following up can be necessary, but an artist may need time to find words that fit.
  • Protect the deadline: Have a version that can be delivered if the collaboration does not come together in time.
  • Let the result earn its place: A feature should improve the song, not exist only because it was requested.

Those principles are especially relevant in an era when music-making can be technically immediate. A laptop and portable instruments make it easier to start ideas nearly anywhere, while digital sessions can move quickly between artists. But speed of access does not guarantee speed of expression. The tools may make a beat available in minutes; finding the lyric that belongs over it can still take longer.

Creators assembling their own recording spaces may also be thinking about the basic equipment that makes remote ideas easier to capture. For a separate look at one accessible piece of creator gear, see this Blue Yeti USB microphone listing. Equipment can help preserve a sketch when inspiration strikes, but Lacy’s account is a reminder that the final words and performance still depend on the human side of the process.

What the timing says about “Is It Cool?”

There is a temptation to interpret a near-deadline delivery as drama. Lacy’s telling points somewhere quieter. He did not frame the late-arriving verse as a conflict. Instead, he framed it as the outcome of giving a collaborator room to work.

That approach also explains why he had a backup plan. Waiting is not the same as passivity: he was prepared to write the part himself, and he was close enough to submission that the song had to remain on track. The combination of patience and preparedness is the key detail. It allowed Lacy to honor the album’s schedule without turning a creative request into a demand.

Lacy’s “Oh Yeah? Tour” is next scheduled to visit Charlotte, North Carolina, on October 22. For listeners, the SZA anecdote adds a little context to one track on the album. For artists, it offers a clearer lesson about collaboration: make the invitation, keep the work moving, and leave enough room for the contribution to become real on its own terms.