Terry Sanchez Wallace Jr., known professionally as Tee Grizzley, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter from Detroit, Michigan. He is best known for his singles "First Day Out", "No Effort", "Colors", and "From the D to the A". After being released from prison in October 2016, Grizzley released his debut single "First Day Out" through YouTube. The song gained over two million views in less than three weeks, and led to Grizzley signing a record deal with 300 Entertainment and Atlantic Records in 2017. After releasing numerous mixtapes and singles throughout 2017, Grizzley released his debut album Activated on May 11, 2018, which peaked at number 10 on the Billboard 200.
Early life
Wallace was born on March 23, 1994 in Detroit, Michigan, and was raised by his grandmother in the Joy Rd. & Southfield neighborhood due to his mother and father constantly being in and out of prison. In middle school he began developing an interest in rap music and eventually formed the musical group All Stars Ball Hard along with three of his friends, JR, Po, and Lee. Wallace took the moniker of ASBH Tee, and they began uploading their songs to YouTube. In 2011, his mother was sentenced to 15 years in prison for drug trafficking. His father was murdered in 2012. Wallace was the first member of his family to attend college in generations, and attended Michigan State University to study finance and accounting, but, after undergoing financial difficulties, he and a friend of his began robbing other dormitories, and stole $20,000 worth of electronics and money from other students in February 2014. On February 27, Wallace and Jeremy Ford were caught but released pending investigation. Wallace went on the run, and fled to Kentucky, where, on July 1, 2014, Wallace was one of three people arrested following an attempted robbery at a jewelry store in Lexington, Kentucky. Wallace was sentenced to nine months for the robbery, and, while already serving that sentence, he was sentenced to 18 months to 15 years for the Michigan State robberies in September 2015. On October 16, 2016, he was released from prison in Michigan.
Career
2016–2019: Debut singles, ''My Moment'', ''Activated'', and collaborations
While in prison, Wallace began to take rapping more seriously and wrote the entirety of his debut mixtape while incarcerated. After being released from prison, where he took the name Tee Grizzley, he released his debut single "First Day Out" in November 2016. The music video, posted to YouTube, gained over 2 million views in less than three weeks. He later signed to 300 Entertainment & Atlantic Records in 2017. He released his second single, "Second Day Out", in February 2017. His third single "From the D to the A" featuring Lil Yachty was released in March 2017. He released "No Effort" and its accompanying music video on March 31, 2017. His debut mixtape My Moment was released on April 7, 2017. Grizzley said that his record sales tripled after his song was featured in a LeBron JamesInstagram post. Grizzley's song "Teetroit" was released on July 28, 2017. The single "Beef", featuring Meek Mill, was released on September 1, 2017. He received two 2017 BET Hip Hop Award nominations for Best New Hip-Hop Artist and Best Mixtape for My Moment. He released the song "Win" on October 6, 2017. He released the song "What Yo City Like" with rapper Lil Durk on November 30, 2017 as the lead single for Bloodas. The two then released the joint mixtape Bloodas on December 8, 2017. He released the single "Colors" on February 2, 2018. The single "Don't Even Trip" featuring Moneybagg Yo was released on March 14, 2018. On March 9, 2018, Grizzley had a feature in Lil Yachty's new album Lil Boat 2 in the song "Get Money Bros.". His debut studio album, Activated, was released on May 11, 2018. In August, he received a 2018 MTV Video Music Award nomination for Push Artist of the Year. He released the mixtape Still My Moment on November 9, 2018. In May 2019, he released the single "Locked Up". On August 20, 2019, his vehicle was shot at in Detroit, Michigan. His aunt/manager Jobina Brown was killed in the shooting, she was 41. He and the driver survived the incident unharmed. On September 20, 2019, Grizzley released his single "Satish" accompanied with a music video to commemorate Brown's death.
2020: ''The Smartest''
In January 2020, Tee Grizzley released the single "Red Light". In March, he released the single "Payroll" featuring Payroll Giovanni. His song "No Talkin" was featured in the Netflix film Coffee & Kareem. He released the song "I Spy" on May 1, and "Mr. Officer" on June 5 in response to the killing of George Floyd and police brutality. The song features Queen Naija and members of the Detroit Youth Choir. He released the mixtape The Smartest on June 19.
