Tee Grizzley is a man best known for turning a prison sentence into a platinum platform, one who built a name for himself by always telling the truth and never turning his back on the trenches that made him.

Tee Grizzley (birth name Terry Sanchez Wallace Jr.) came up out of the mud, a product of Detroit’s Joy Rd section of the west side—a place where the pressure to succeed was a matter of life and death.

The child of parents who were always in and out of the system, Tee had already absorbed enough trauma to last a lifetime by the time he was a teenager.

A bad situation then got even worse when his father was murdered, and his mother was incarcerated for her longest sentence yet, leaving Tee to be raised by his grandmother.

Needing an outlet to cope, he began writing verses in a notebook that would later become the foundation of his sound—lyrics full of grief, hustle, pain, and prayer.

That said, long before the fame, there would be the fall.

Initially believing education was his way out, Tee enrolled at Michigan State and was busy trying to balance making money with school when he took a wrong turn and was arrested in 2014 for attempted robbery.

Tee was sentenced to 3 to 15 years as a result and served time in both Michigan and Kentucky.

However, sometimes it takes hitting rock bottom to really get your priorities straight.

That’s where Tee Grizzley the artist would be born—behind bars, reevaluating everything he had ever done to land him there.
He used the time to write and prepare for the moment he could finally breathe fresh air again, crafting a plan on how he could make the most of it.

Tee Grizzley was released in October 2016, and he wasted no time.

His hit single “First Day Out” dropped within months of him being a free man, and it practically exploded overnight.

Tee had no major co-sign. No big-money marketing plan. Just hunger, a raw storytelling ability, and a beat.

The video for “First Day Out” later went viral, the track went platinum, and just like that: Tee Grizzley officially broke through to the big leagues.

His music isn’t just trap.

Tracks like “No Effort,” and “From the D to the A” with Lil Yachty, or “Satish” (a tribute to his aunt and manager who was murdered) are more like testimonies, with Grizzley rapping like every line would be the one to make or break him.

He carries with him the spirit of someone who has lost so much yet refuses to let it all be for nothing, with albums like “My Moment,” “Activated,” and “Scriptures” more like survival guides than music.

Unlike many artists, Tee wasn’t satisfied with confining himself to music alone.

Surprising everyone, he launched “Grizzley World RP,” a custom Grand Theft Auto server that took Detroit’s culture and turned it into a digital experience.

It wasn’t just a game.

It was Tee laying claim to something he could own, proving he was a man who understood that rap money alone wouldn’t build the kind of generational wealth he envisioned for himself.

The server included everything from street codes to real estate and income streams, and from there Tee diversified even further…into streaming, tech, and even mentorship.

Global fame aside, Tee Grizzley stays tapped into the city, always bringing his team with him through every chart-topping album and business deal.

He talks about loyalty and loss in the same breath, a Detroit code that runs through all his endeavors. He even still shoots videos from the trenches, using his newfound fame and notoriety to help uplift a new generation of rising artists.

He honors the dead, reps the block, and shows young Detroiters that there’s life after the storm.

He isn’t some distant icon.

He’s reachable, visible, and real—a complex Detroit icon that is scarred, strategic, and always right on the precipice of his next great chapter.

Victoria Jackson (Editor In Chief)

Victoria Jackson is a lifelong student and sharp-eyed documentarian of all things Detroit, from its rich musical roots and cultural icons to its shifting neighborhoods, storied architecture, and underground legends. With her finger firmly on the pulse of both the city’s vibrant past and its rapidly unfolding future, she brings a deeply personal, historically grounded lens to every piece she writes.

Published on: September 17, 2025