Rapper and gaming pro Tee Grizzley shared how he turned his love of video games into a lucrative streaming gig, AfroTech reports.
The “Blow for Blow” artist sat down for an episode of the “Earn Your Leisure” podcast and shared his strategy of making millions by simply playing video games — taking advantage of subscriber opportunities and ads on social apps like Twitch. “The way to make money, you gotta know how to repurpose things,” Grizzley explained.
“Boom, you got subscribers, you got ads, you got people that can donate to you — and the
sky’s the limit with all that stuff. With your videos saved, so you can take those videos [and] you can make content out of them on your TikTok, your Instagram, YouTube. You can [even] get a bag off Snapchat.”The Detroit-based artist seemingly manifested his gaming career on X, then Twitter, in 2021. He tweeted that he needed a “plug” for the popular streaming platform Twitch. I need a Twitch plug ASAP. DM me,” Grizzley tweeted.
One year later, during an interview in 2022 with the “Million Dollaz Worth Of Game” podcast, the rapper admitted to shifting gears into gaming after reaching momentums
in the music industry. He created a custom “Grand Theft Auto” server called Grizzley World RP and garnered thousands of viewers with “Call of Duty” gameplay.During the COVID-19 shutdown, a friend of Grizzley’s helped him grow his wallet through his gaming passion. His friend North set up a free server for him, limiting Grizzley to earning $5,000 a month. However, the rapper overstepped that and made close to $50,000 a week with Grizzley World RP. With the server hosting 90,000 members at the time, each paying customer paid an admission fee between $100 to $400. “I put my sh-t up. I stream it on Twitch, right? I get paid from Twitch,” Grizzley explained.
“I take the Twitch videos that are already streamed, [and] put it on YouTube. Get paid from the two, and I get paid from the server. Then you got sponsorships, you got ads.”
While speaking with Earn Your Leisure hosts Rashad Bilal and Troy Milling, Grizzley said that gaming has no specific genre as some streamers stick to one and others like him venture into different worlds. When asked what his favorite game is, Grizzley said it all depends on the “era.” His love for gaming started in elementary school, so his favorites vary between “007” and “Call of Duty.”
He’s not the only artist who has embraced the love of online gaming. According to Revolt, artists like T-Pain, DDG, Soulja Boy, and NLE Choppa have also gained popularity in the growing industry.