Tee Grizzley Reminds Us Who He Is on ‘They Forgot’

Released September 25, 2026

At this point, it’s safe to say Tee Grizzley is a Detroit rap veteran, some nine years after his viral track “First Day Out” made him a household name and elevated him from a regional artist to the national spotlight. That being said, the 10+ projects he’s released since then have admittedly been hit or miss for me, culminating with last year’s Street Psalms (although technically classified as a mixtape). Filled with way too much melodic, melancholy music, I was left a bit disappointed—a feeling that had me nervous for this new release. However, I am glad to say the artist seems to have gotten back to his D-Town roots and given us a good dose of that retro Tee with his latest project, They Forgot.

While his previous project seemed to lean into a darker, street-biblical theme, They Forgot goes straight into that uptempo Detroit fare, with “99Ovrall” and “Back Ina Yams” delivering that classic Grizz. While there are bouts of introspection on tracks like “Detroit Public Schools” and “Grizz They Need You,” he refrains from those Rod Wave-esque depressing lyrics and the overuse of autotune. I honestly can’t say there is a bad stretch of songs throughout (THANK YOU!). We also get a continuation of the engaging storyline on “Robbery 10.” I’ll say that, outside of King Von (RIP), Tee is one of the better storytellers of this generation of rappers. While some of the tracks sound a bit similar due to the production and overlapping lyrical themes, there are no outright skips for me.

As mentioned before, the production leans heavily into that modern Detroit sound, of which I am a fan. However, I could see it being a bit of a niche project for those who favor a more varied sound. The exception is the Hitmaka-produced “Rain,” which features a creative use of an Ashanti sample and a fitting Skilla Baby feature. That’s one of only two credited features, with the other being the Hurricane Wisdom-assisted “Hard Times.” While it’s not a bad song, I admittedly wasn’t a big fan of Hurricane’s hook. It also would have been nice to see a few more fitting features; “No Effort 2” would have been elevated with a Payroll verse, but that might just be a bit of personal bias.

Overall, They Forgot marks a welcome return to form for Tee Grizzley. While not containing any surefire hits, it’s a solid body of work that I recommend, and hopefully, it marks the end of his “Rod Grizzley” emo-trap phase.

Standout Tracks: 99Ovrall, Back Ina Yams, Detroit Public Schools, Hard Times, Robbery 10

Album Rating: 👑👑👑👑👑👑👑½ (7.5/10)