Following his 2015 arrest for armed robbery, Tee Grizzley hit the books hard and began studying law hoping to shorten his 15-year sentence. During an interview, the rapper said sharpening his knowledge of the law helped to get him released after just 18 months behind bars.
“I didn’t think I was getting out,” Grizzley said. “Man, look I got n-ggas in there telling me, ‘You better take ten years if they try to give that to you.’”
Tee Grizzley Starts Studying The Law:
Grizzley said he often asked both his legal representation and fellow inmates for advice. Both representation and his fellow inmates told him to avoid going to trial at all costs. However, a decade behind bars didn’t sound like a plan for Tee, so he started hitting the library.
“They say we armed cause of the sledgehammer right?” Grizzley asked, referring to the weapon he allegedly used to commit the robberies at Michigan State University. “So I get in the law book. First thing I see I go to that type of shit, and they say, ‘You can only consider something a weapon if they use it to threaten somebody and demand something.’ I ain’t never told nobody I was gonna hit them with the hammer. I ain’t raised nobody or nothing. So they can’t say that that’s a weapon.”
Grizzley continued, “and I told my lawyer that and my lawyer surprised like, ‘No you right.’ I’m like, ‘The fuck you mean I’m right? You knew this before me. I get to tell my co-defendant, ‘Look read the law book. Look at every case,’ and we end up getting up out that motherfucker.”
Tee Grizzley’s Time In Prison:
Tee was on parole until October 2016. After becoming a free man he quickly went to the studio to record his his single ‘First Day Out’. In the video, Grizzley is seen wearing the same orange jumpsuit he had donned in prison. ‘First Day Out’ has racked up over 227 million views since its release. He followed up by dropping his featureless debut album ‘My Moment’ in 2017, which is now certified gold.
“When I was locked up bro, I was just writing a whole bunch of songs,” Grizzley says. “I wrote this one song. It didn’t have a hook on it. I was like I’m going to be calm and first and then turn up. All through my bid, I was just adding to it. Touching it up and critiquing it. I was like I’m going to drop this first. That’s why I named it ‘First Day Out’ because that was the first thing I did when I got out.”
Since his release Tee Grizzley has consistently rolled out music. He recent finished his latest project ‘Half Tee Half Beast‘. The project features appearance fellow artist Lakeyah and Baby Grizzley.
