“First Day Out” is the infamous anthem from rapper Tee Grizzley, which followed his release from prison. The Detroit native, born Terry Wallace Jr., was released in 2016 after serving 18 months on home invasion charges He went from local rapper to reaching mainstream success simply by telling his story. One part of his story is how he used his legal research to help himself.
“I didn’t think I was getting out,” Grizzley said during his appearance on “The Million Dollaz Worth of Game” podcast. “Man, look I got n—-s in there telling me, ‘You better take ten years if they try to give that to you.'”
Tee was arrested on charges of committing a series of robberies at Michigan State University, while he was a freshman, in February 2014. According to reports from The Lansing State Journal, police found nearly $10,000 in stolen merchandise and $10,000 in cash taken from a dormitory. He was released pending an investigation after that arrest.
In July of that year Tee and two men were arrested on charges of the attempted robbery of a pawn shop and jewelry store in Lexington, Kentucky. He was initially charged with first-degree robbery Kentucky.com reports. Authorities said one of the men smashed a glass case of Rolex watches with a sledgehammer. Their actions were foiled after the manager arrived and pulled out his gun. The men desisted at that point and stayed until local police arrived.
He said he sought advice from fellow inmates in the Kentucky jail and later began reading law books about his robbery case. He told hosts Gillie Da King and Wallo267, “we didn’t have no guns,” speaking of himself and two co-defendants.
“They said we armed cause of the sledgehammer and s–t, right? So I get in the law book. First thing I see I got to that type of s–t, 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,” the 28-year-old explained. “I ain’t raise it to nobody or nothing. So they can’t say that, that’s a weapon.”
He took the knowledge he learned and presented it to his attorney, which helped reduce his charges.
“I told my lawyer that and my lawyer looked surprised like, ‘No you right.’ I’m like, ‘The f-ck you mean I’m right? You knew this before me,” he recalled. “I get to tell my co-defendant, ‘Look read the law book. Look at every case just like ours’ type sh-t and we end up getting up out that motherf—-r.”
Grizzley clarified that he did not beat the case, but he did help his robbery charge. When asked why he smashed the glass, he said he told court officials, “they sold my people’s a fake watch, and I wasn’t there, and I just wanted to tear some s–t up. “
He added, “This is destruction of property at best. We didn’t get out the store with nothing. We wasn’t trying to take nothing.”
Tee’s charges in that case were later reduced to theft by unlawful taking or disposition, for which he received a nine-month sentence, according to XXL. He was then extradited to Michigan, where he was charged with two counts of second-degree home invasion in the MSU case. He was sentenced to 18 months to 15 years in prison and released in October 2016.
On the day of his release, Tee Grizzley recorded “First Day Out,” which has become a hip-hop staple. The track was released a month later and featured on Grizzley’s debut mixtape, “My Moment.” It inspired the #LebronJamesChallenge, where fans imitate the NBA legend and his facial expression while listening to the song in the gym.
Grizzley is now a family man with a 1-year-old son, Terry Wallace III, a boy he shares with his fiancée, My’Eisha Agnew.
