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Tee Grizzley was born Terry Sanchez Wallace Jr<\/a>. in Detroit, Michigan, on March 23, 1994. His grandmother was his primary guardian because his parents were often in prison. He showed an early interest in rap music and formed the group All Stars Ball Hard<\/a> with three of his friends. At the time, he went by ASBH Tee. The group of middle school performers started uploading their songs to YouTube, where they received some local and regional attention.<\/p>\n In 2011, Wallace\u2019s mother was convicted of drug trafficking and given a 20-year prison sentence. The following year, his father was murdered.<\/p>\n Wallace became the first member of his family to attend college when he gained admission to Michigan State University in East Lansing. He studied finance and accounting but faced serious financial problems. Unfortunately, Wallace and a friend turned to crime to solve their financial issues. In February 2014, they stole an estimated $20,000 in cash<\/a> and electronics from student dorm rooms.<\/p>\n Wallace was arrested for the theft on February 27. The police released him, though, pending investigation. Instead of facing the consequences, Wallace ran from the authorities. He successfully evaded the cops until July 1, when he and three other people were arrested for attempting to rob a jewelry store in Lexington, Kentucky.<\/p>\n The attempted robbery earned him nine months in jail. While serving his sentence, Wallace received word that the police in Michigan had finished their investigation. He was found guilty of committing crimes at Michigan State University, with a jail sentence between 18 months to 15 years. Luckily, he did not have to serve the full term. Wallace was released from a Michigan prison on October 16, 2016, having spent a little more than two years in confinement.<\/p>\n Prison wasn\u2019t a totally negative experience for Wallace. He used the time to hone his rapping skills. He also wrote some of the material that would appear on his first mixtape, My Moment<\/em>. Wallace partially attributes the popularity of My Moment<\/em> to LeBron James, who included one of the mixtape\u2019s songs in an Instagram post. He says sales tripled after the post.<\/p>\n