"Wanted Dead or Alive" is a gangsta rap song by American West Coast hip hop recording artists 2Pac and Snoop Dogg. It was released in January 1997 via Death Row Records and Def Jam Music Group Inc. as the lead single from Gridlock'd – The Soundtrack. Production was handled by Daz Dillinger, who utilized an interpolation of Zapp's "Dance Floor".

The song peaked at number 16 on the UK Singles Chart, number 12 on the UK Dance Singles chart and number 4 on the UK Hip Hop and R&B Singles chart. It also made it to number 3 in New Zealand and number 41 in Australia.

AllMusic's Andrew Hamilton described the song as "2Pac supplies the bullets with his aggressive, authentic, unmistakable delivery and Snoop's at his spacy best, laid-back, effective, super cool, and chronic mellow".[1]

Music video

An accompanying music video was directed by Scott Kalvert and released in February 1997. It shows the police trying to catch Snoop Dogg along with clips of the deceased rapper Tupac Shakur. The storyline is similar to "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted".

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Wanted Dead or Alive"Dat Nigga Daz 
2."Never Had a Friend Like Me"Johnny "J" 
3."Life Is a Traffic Jam"
Medusa 

Personnel

  • Tupac "2Pac" Shakur – performer
  • Calvin "Snoop Doggy Dogg" Broadus – performer (track 1)
  • Eight Mile Road – performer (track 3)
  • Delmar "Dat Nigga Daz" Arnaud – producer (track 1)
  • Johnny Jackson – producer (track 2)
  • Mone "Medusa" Smith – producer (track 3)

Charts

Chart (1997) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[2] 41
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[3] 3
Scotland (OCC)[4] 38
UK Singles (OCC)[5] 16
UK Dance (OCC)[6] 12
UK Hip Hop/R&B (OCC)[7] 4

References

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