Dead or Alive (Lil Tecca song)

"Dead or Alive" is a song by American rapper Lil Tecca, released on September 20, 2023 as the fourth single from his third studio album Tec, which was released two days later. It was produced by Taz Taylor, Rio Leyva and John Darden IV.

Background
In an interview with Apple Music, Lil Tecca explained the meaning behind the song:

"Is very just in your face, like, the way I always just see peoples opinions and anyone besides us, you know? Because we're all in our individual worlds. So I'm like, anything that anyone can say to me, in a hundred years, they gonna be gone the same way I'm gonna be gone. So regardless if I'm dead or alive, I'ma do this the way I wanna do it. It's a statement of mortality, for real. Like that's all that it comes down to, no matter how much money you make, no matter how accomplished you do, like, it's gonna come to an end. So you don't wanna sit at the end and be like, 'Man, I wish I did it this way, I wish I didn't think about what people were talking about, I wish that, I wish this.'"

Critical reception
Alexander Cole gave a positive review, writing "The song is yet another banger from Tecca, with some melodic production and the vocals to match. It's in line with what we have already heard from Tecca this album cycle, albeit with a twist."