# Lil Tecca

Tyler-Justin Anthony Sharpe (born August 26, 2002), known professionally as Lil Tecca, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and record producer. He rose to mainstream fame with the release of his 2019 single "Ransom", which peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. The song preceded the release of his debut mixtape We Love You Tecca (2019), which peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 and contained the follow-up singles "Love Me" and "Did It Again". His debut studio album, Virgo World (2020) peaked at number ten on the Billboard 200, while his second and third albums, We Love You Tecca 2 (2021) and Tec (2023) reached similar positions on the chart. The latter two spawned the singles "Never Left" and "500lbs", respectively, both of which received platinum certifications by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). His fourth studio album Plan A was released in 2024.

## Early life

Tyler-Justin Anthony Sharpe was born on August 26, 2002, in Queens, New York, to Jamaican immigrant parents. He grew up in the Springfield Gardens neighborhood of Queens. Sharpe's upbringing in Queens exposed him to diverse cultural influences. At some point, Sharpe relocated from Queens to Cedarhurst, a village located in Nassau County on Long Island, New York. Growing up, Sharpe dreamed of playing in the NBA. However, at 12 years old, he redirected his focus toward music, drawn to hip-hop and inspired by artists like Chief Keef and Speaker Knockerz. He attended Lawrence High School.

## Career
### 2017–2018: Early career and musical career beginnings

At the age of 9, Lil Tecca would be interested in music after he began rapping over his mic, while he was playing a game on Xbox, with his friends. Following this imminent occurrence, Tecca and his friends started targeting each other with diss tracks, with Tecca uploading two songs towards them onto his account on SoundCloud. However, those tracks have since been removed. Tecca's first notable release was a track, called "Tectri", released in 2017, in which was a collaborative single with Gummybear. Following the release of "Tectri", Tecca continues releasing early tracks, including "Callin", among others.

### 2018–2019: Mainstream with Ransom and We Love You Tecca

On October 29, 2018, Tecca released a single, called "Love Me". The song was produced by Dystinkt Beats. Upon its release, the song debuted at number 72 on the Canadian Hot 100. It also debuted on number 65 on US Rolling Stone Top 100. His music career began with his song, called "Ransom", in which was originally uploaded to Cole Bennett's Lyrical Lemonade YouTube channel on May 22, 2019. Pitchfork described the song as "traditional" cloud rap with bittersweet, "trippy" production. "Ransom" reached its peak at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart accumulating over 1.4 billion streams on Spotify and 400 million views on YouTube.
On July 24, Tecca released a single, titled "Did It Again". Upon its release, the song debuted at 64 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it his second entry after "Ransom". As of October 23, 2023, the single would become a certified two-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and streaming equivalent units of over a two million units in the United States. On August 14, 2019, Tecca released the remix to "Ransom", with Juice Wrld, onto his account on SoundCloud. The remix was released on other platforms the following day. The track was mixed by Taz Taylor and Nick Mira. The remix later got added to his-then upcoming debut mixtape, titled We Love You Tecca, alongside the original version of the record. On August 30, Tecca released his debut mixtape, We Love You Tecca, peaking at number 4 on the US Billboard 200. Following the mixtape's success, Tecca collaborated with Internet Money and A Boogie Wit da Hoodie on their track, titled "Somebody", in which was released on October 11, 2019. Produced by Nick Mira and Taz Taylor, the song debuted at number 96 on the Billboard Hot 100. He released a track, called "Glo Up", later in that same month. On December 16, Tecca then released the single, called "Why You Look Mad", in which was produced by Ginseng and Rio Leyva.

### 2020–2021: Virgo World

On January 31, 2020, Tecca appeared as a featured artist on The Kid Laroi's "Diva". It peaked at number 76 on the ARIA Singles Chart. On February 7, Tecca released a track, titled "IDK", in which was self-produced and released through Galactic and Republic Records. On March 13, Tecca released his single, called "All Star", a collaboration with Lil Tjay, in which accompanied by a music video. On April 17, he released a track, called "Out of Love" featuring Internet Money. The official music video for the track was released on June 30. The video was directed by Omar Jones. On August 27, he appeared as a featured artist on Internet Money's "JLO", in which was released through 10K Projects.
On September 18, Tecca released his debut studio album, titled Virgo World. "Dolly" featuring Lil Uzi Vert, was released that same day. On March 26, 2021, Internet Money released a track, called "Jetski", in which features a guest appearance from Tecca and Lil Mosey. Although it didn't chart on the Billboard Hot 100, the song peaked at number 19 on the Bubbling Under the Hot 100 and number 88 on the Canadian Hot 100.

### 2021: We Love You Tecca 2

On April 6, 2021, Tecca released the single, called "Show Me Up". The song was produced by Niko East. On May 6, he follow suit with the release of his single, called "Never Left", in which peaked at number 56 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It also was ranked at number 28 on the Rolling Stone Top 100. Tecca released a track, called "Money on Me" on July 23, followed by the other track, called "Repeat It" (featuring American rapper Gunna) on August 6, resepctively. The former or the latter of those two songs became a certified gold by Music Canada.
On August 27, Tecca released his second studio album, titled We Love You Tecca 2, as a sequel to his debut mixtape of the same name. The album contains guest appearances from Gunna, Iann Dior, Chief Keef, Trippie Redd, Nav, and Lil Yachty. On September 1, 2021, the deluxe edition was released. Tecca made guest appearances on Bankrol Hayden's "Come Through" on September 24, and 24kGoldn's "Prada" on October 8, 2021. The latter song peaked at number 18 on New Zealand Hot Singles. He later went on the Tecca Loves You Tour with tana, Bktherula, and yvngxchris.

### 2022–2024: Tec

On January 28, 2022, Tecca released his new single, called "Fallin". The song was written by Tecca, alongside Amin Elamin and Nathan Andrew Chen. The song was produced by Menoh Beats and Ninetyniine, with an accompanying music video released the same day. On February 25, ArrDee released a remix to "Flowers (Say My Name)", in which features a guest appearance from Tecca. Produced by WhYJay and LiTek, the song gained attention for Tecca's melodic verse, in which where he raps about his love interest. On June 29, Tecca collaborated with English singer Mabel on "Let Love Go", a track from her second studio album, About Last Night.... Tecca released two singles–"Faster" (August 5) and "Treesha" (August 26)–throughout the summer of 2022. On December 9, he follow suit with the release of his single, called "Blessing", in which was produced by Yung Tago and was released through Galactic Records.
Tecca would released four promotional singles–"Need Me" (May 11), "500lbs" (July 21), "Hvn on Earth" (with Kodak Black; August 18), and "Dead or Alive" (September 20), throughout the year of 2023, in a lead up to the release of his-then upcoming and untitled third studio album. On September 22, Tecca released his third studio album, titled Tec. Initially announced to be released in May, however, the album's release has been delayed until fall of 2023. The album, comprises 16 tracks, includes one bonus track. Upon its release, Tec received generally positive reviews from critics and became Lil Tecca's third US top album, debuting at number eleven on the US Billboard 200. Following its release, several songs from the album charted on the Billboard Hot 100. The music video for "Down with Me" premiered on December 29, 2023, that led to the album's bonus track being released as a single on January 4, 2024.

### 2024–present: Plan A

In May 2024, Tecca released two songs–"Never Last" and "Number 2"–alongside their music videos the same day. "Number 2" charted at number 45 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts and number 18 on the New Zealand Hot Singles chart. Additionally, "Never Last" reached number 29 on the New Zealand Hot Singles chart. On August 9, Tecca released the single, called "Taste", in which charted at number 31 on the New Zealand Hot Singles chart. On August 30, he released a track, called "Bad Time". The song was first previewed on an Instagram Live on June 24.
In September 2024, Tecca announced his-then upcoming fourth studio album, titled Plan A, in which would be released on September 20. Upon its release, Plan A debuted at number 66 on the UK Albums Chart. The album featured a sole guest appearance from Don Toliver. On March 14, 2025, he released the single "Dark Thoughts".

## Personal life

During interviews in 2023 with Jazzys World TV and Complex, Lil Tecca expressed that if he were not a rapper, he would have pursued a career as a heart surgeon.

## Discography

* Virgo World (2020)
* We Love You Tecca 2 (2021)
* Tec (2023)
* Plan A (2024)

## Awards and nominations

List of awards and nominations earned by Lil Tecca :
| Award | Year | Recipient(s) and nominee(s) | Category | Result |
| MTV Video Music Awards | 2019 | "Ransom" | Song of Summer | Nominated |
| Streamy Awards | 2019 | Himself | Breakthrough Artist | Nominated |
| MTV Europe Music Award | 2020 | Himself | Best Push Act | Nominated |
| Billboard Music Awards | 2020 | "Ransom" | Top Rap Song | Nominated |