#157: Tee Grizzley

Today on A Waste of Time with ItsTheReal, Day 8 of the #12DaysOfPodcasts, we welcome Detroit's own Tee Grizzley to the Upper West Side! We discuss Tee's grandparents raising him since his mother was (and remains) in federal lockup, becoming an excellent student, never smoking or drinking in the face of peer pressure, rapping during his high school years with a collective called the All-Stars, starting college at Michigan State University, getting an internship offer from a major financial institution in Chicago, and ultimately falling in with the wrong crowd and getting involved with robberies. Tee details getting kicked out of school, heading to Kentucky for a smash and grab, walking into the jewelry store and knowing there was no good ending, and seconds later staring down the barrel of a cop's gun. How Tee broke the news to his grandparents, how he passed the time in jail, who believed in him, how he turned his focus to music, what it was like in the studio when he recorded First Day Out, and who exactly showed him that this would be a huge song. All that, plus stories about Chris Brown and Trey Songz, Facetiming with Lyor Cohen, getting shouted out by Jay-Z on Twitter, new collaborations with Jeezy, Takeoff and Lil Dark, who would win in animal fights and why, and much, much more!