Detroit based rapper Tee Grizzley dropped his latest mixtape Half Tee Half Beast this week. The project contains 17 tracks, with only two features from Tee Grizzley’s brother Baby Grizzley and new Quality Control artist; Lakeyah.
Tee Grizzley, real name Terry Wallace Jr, discussed the meaning behind the mixtape’s title in a recent interview. “The name of the mixtape draws a line between the different sides of me,” he explained. “Yeah, I’m human like everyone else but also the things I’ve been through and had to survive made me a beast.”
Half Tee Half Beast released ahead of the music video for the track “Robbery Part 3”. The previous installments in Tee Grizzley’s “Robbery” series accumulated 22 million combined views on YouTube.
Tee Grizzley performing at Little Caesars Arena on Dec 28, 2017. (Photo by Scott Legato/Getty Images)
Tee Grizzley’s mixtape catalog
The project joins Tee Grizzley’s growing mixtape catalog that began with 2017’s My Moment. After earning a gold record and dropping his debut album, Grizzley followed up with Still My Moment in 2018. Finally, Grizzley released The Smartest in 2020, with the project reaching No. 11 on the Billboard US Rap chart. In addition, he partnered with Chicago rapper Lil Durk for the 2017 collab tape Bloodas.
Additionally, the 28 year old artist has released three studio albums. His debut, Activated, ended up at No. 6 on the US Rap and HipHop/R&B charts for Billboard. The album eventually peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard 200 chart. 2019’s Scriptures and 2021’s Built For Whatever both topped out at No. 9 on the US Rap chart.
The song “First Day Out” is Tee Grizzley’s only single to appear on Billboard’s Hot 100 songs chart. The song off My Moment generated over 218 million plays on YouTube and 316 million streams on Spotify.
The RIAA certified “First Day Out” as 4x Platinum in July 2021. Tee Grizzley also earned a 2x Platinum plaque for “From the D to the A” featuring Lil Yachty.