Tee Grizzley Says a Forgotten Bag Cost Him $70,000 and Three Days in a Mexico Jail

Tee Grizzley Says a Forgotten Bag Cost Him $70,000 and Three Days in a Mexico Jail

Tee Grizzley went to Mexico to celebrate his son’s birthday. According to Tee, he spent the party locked up.

The Detroit rapper told the story himself during a Cover Lines conversation with B.Dot, as reported by AllHipHop. Tee says he traveled with his wife and son, and that authorities found $70,000 in cash inside a bag. His explanation is simple: he says he had forgotten the money was even in there.

From there, Tee says the trip went all the way left. Officials counted the cash, told him the matter would go to court and put him in handcuffs. His wife took their son away before the arrest unfolded in front of the boy, and Tee says he sat in a Mexico jail for three days while the birthday went on without him. The money, he says, was gone.

“The day of his party, bro, I’m still in there,” Tee said. “And they jails over there. That ain’t where you want to be for three days.”

This is Tee’s account of what happened, and it is worth hearing in his own words in the interview above. As AllHipHop notes, there has been no independently reported ruling on what became of the $70,000.

What is certain is what he did with the story next: he turned it into music. “Locked Up In Mexico” appears on his album They Forgot, released Sept. 25 through 300 Entertainment, a 16-track project that arrived while Tee was speaking more openly about the legal problems that once complicated his career.

The Mexico story lands differently because of where Tee says he is now. In August, he celebrated having his felony record cleared, writing, “Every felony GONE!!!! Thank you God,” and telling supporters, “Your comeback can be greater than your setback.” He has said the record once restricted his touring and business opportunities.

So this episode is not another chapter in those old Michigan cases. By his telling, it is a family trip, one forgotten bag, three days he could not get back and a birthday he still has not made up for. He has already told it the best way he knows how: in an interview, and on a record.