As Tiger fans fill the stands for the opening round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament later this week, a purple glowing DJ booth sits in front of one of the rowdiest student sections in the country. The man operating it is the life of the PMAC party.
His name is Gerald Lee Jr., but he goes by his shortened middle name, Joey. At house parties, weddings and the PMAC, he’s more commonly known as “DJ Grizzlee.” Lee got the alter-ego in college for his ponytail and grizzly beard, with some inspiration from his name.
“With my first name being Gerard with a G and my last name being Lee, it just kind of made sense,” Lee said.
Lee isn’t a regular DJ; he has a lot to manage. Lee is given a 15-page game script and a headset to communicate with Tiger Band and LSU marketing throughout the show.
“I would say that DJ-ing is third on the list of qualities that you need to be able to do the job that I do,” Lee said.
Lee has never had a problem keeping Tiger fans engaged in the action. Whether at a New Orleans Pelicans game or just searching on Spotify, he’s constantly looking for more songs in his free time and thinking about what situation he could play them in. While LSU suggests songs for Lee to play in specific scenarios, the school provides him complete creative freedom at the booth.
“I’m dealing with so much, so you have to play the song at the right time,” Lee said. “It’s almost like you have to be more of a manager than just a DJ.”
Lee performs at nearly all of LSU’s PMAC sporting events, including men’s and women’s basketball, gymnastics and volleyball. There were 68 events in 2024, and Lee missed only four. He’s not particular to an exact genre of music, which helps him bounce between them depending on the event. Lee plays hip-hop at a Tigers basketball game but leans into EDM and pop at an LSU gymnastics meet.
When Gerald Lee Sr. took his young son to church one day, Lee pointed at the church band, specifically the keyboard.
“He would come to me like, ‘Hey, I want to get a keyboard. I want to play keyboard,'” Lee Sr. said. “It was like, ‘Where’s that coming from?’ He was young, real young.”
Lee said it came from his father, “DJ Green Eyes,” who made his professional career as a producer and DJ.
“Within weeks, he’s playing what he’s hearing on the radio. [It] just was a knack thing,” Lee Sr. said.
Lee does the same thing to his father years later. They’re at church again, and Lee can’t help but point at the guitar his friends are strumming on.
“Dad, I want a guitar,” Lee tells his father.
Lee Sr. reluctantly gave in. Even if he couldn’t see it then, he was making the right decision for his son.
“Eventually, we bought him one, and again, within weeks, he’s killing it,” Lee Sr. said. “He’s just having that natural instinct.”
Now, Lee Sr. works beside his son, filling in when Lee is forced to miss and even accompanying him at events. The two make up Grizzlee Entertainment, which Lee founded in 2015. LSU contracts Lee and his father through Grizzlee Entertainment to perform at the PMAC.
Over a decade ago, Lee wanted to play football during his college years at Southern Miss. He walked on for the Golden Eagles football team but was declared academically ineligible when one of his old high schools failed to send his transcripts to the NCAA.
So Lee joined a fraternity, which was the best decision he could’ve ever made. His fraternity brothers needed help when a DJ canceled before a house party. With Lee’s PA speakers and his roommate’s little DJ-ing experience, the two stepped up, saved the day and enjoyed every second.
“We fell in love with it,” Lee said. “When we found out that we can make money off of it, it was like, ‘Okay, we’re doing this.'”
Lee founded Grizzlee Entertainment a couple of years later. At first, he didn’t even charge his fraternity, which was offering him anywhere from $50 to $100 for a show. Lee eventually starts charging $300 to $400 a gig. Ten years later, Grizzlee Entertainment can start charging $1,500 for private events and $15,000 for weddings.
Lee and his partner have performed at every Southern Miss fraternity and sorority for years. Meanwhile, Southern Miss football finished 0-12 in 2012 and cleared the house with head coach Ellis Johnson and his staff after only one season.
“Sports and music have always been my whole life,” Lee said. “Those are the two things from when I was young. I didn’t know how I was going to be able to do both, kind of just see how it happened on the road, but to be able to watch that door close and then see it open again through this opportunity. It’s crazy.”
Little did Lee know, he would soon get his chance. His fiancee wanted to move to New Orleans, La., to tackle a work program. Lee was a little hesitant. He’s always aspired to live in Louisiana, especially New Orleans, but his entire business is centered in Hattiesburg, Miss.
But Lee agrees; he knows he can’t pass this opportunity up. Lee built his business and online presence in the world’s party capital and thrived. It was enough to get the attention of LSU, which was looking for a women’s basketball DJ after the program won its first national championship in 2023.
“Oh, I’m jumping all over this,” Lee said.
So Lee travels to Baton Rouge and steps into the PMAC for an opportunity to become the DJ of one of the biggest brands in college athletics.
“The entire marketing department for athletics was there,” Lee said. “So every sport, except for football, had just came because they’re like, ‘Oh, DJ at the PMAC? Yeah, we’ll come listen.'”
Lee sits down at the scorers’ table for his audition. It’s the first one he’s ever done in his life.
“It was like 15 minutes of, ‘Okay, we’re down by five in the fourth quarter. What song would you play?'” Lee said. “I would have like 10 seconds to find a song out of the 1,000 songs on my laptop.”
Lee’s performance impressed everybody in the building. It wasn’t just women’s basketball anymore; every LSU sport wanted him to play for them, too. In his second year, Lee has established himself as the PMAC DJ.
“As a kid, I’ve always wanted to play for LSU,” Lee said. “Obviously, I stopped growing at 5-foot-11-inches, so that probably wasn’t going to work.”
Instead of being a part of the team on the field, Lee is now part of the team behind the scenes, putting on productions that can pack the PMAC to its 13,215 with a sea of purple and gold, and that’s completely fine with him.
For Lee, any job working for LSU is a dream come true.
“I’m kind of just living in the moment for what it is now,” Lee said. “There’s not really too much more that I could ask for besides what’s going on right now. So I’m just gonna kind of take it as it is.”
