The Gavin Weiland (Strappnasti) Interview

If you're unfamiliar with Strappnasti you may know him by his former usemame @gavinweiland. By posting videos of himself rapping, going on walks, and his daily life, Gavin amassed 100k instagram followers in 7 weeks; this is by no means an easy feat. In my interview with Strappnasti I came to the realization that he is certainly more intelligent than he lets on, or that perhaps we as viewers take his antics toò seriously. This interview was already off to a strange start as Gavin reached out to us personally; usually we contact the interviewee first. I was prepping questions for a different interview when I received a call around 1 AM from the sadprt team. They asked if I wanted to talk to Strappnasti, I agreed and gave myself 15 minutes to prepare. I asked Strappnasti why he reached out and what he was hoping to achieve or gain from this interview.

"I reached out for shits and giggles and to ultimately broaden my digital footprint. I saw you make an article about me so I knew there were some eyes on your part."

I wanted to try to gauge how authentic this conversation would be and how much of it would just be some sort of self-promotion.

Is there anything in particular that you were hoping to talk about?

"I'd def have to think"

This conversation was indeed for sh*ts and giggles after all. I asked Gavin to describe his rise in popularity and just give a general overview for the readers.

"[...] If you look into anything about me at all, you'll realize that I was a yo-yoer and a rapper before I ever created any social media content. I simply let my charisma shine on the gram for a mere three months. I moved to a new city and started making videos about my day2day life and amassed 100k followers in 7 weeks"

How much of your virality was intentional? Did you mean to get as big as you did?

"I posted 67 reels with little to no success. once I hit a banger, I went back and archived all the previous posts. that somehow set a level of quality for all the other videos to then follow. ironically months had passed and I was still remaking reels that I posted in my first week just with a bigger following to see it. I was always just doing me just tried to make it a bit more complex and engaging."

As many know, the name Gavin Weiland doesn't actually belong to Strappnasti. The real Gavin Weiland, better known as just Weiland, is a rapper from Tampa, Florida and a close associate of the group Slayworld. I wanted to know how Strappnasti originally got this username (@gavinweiland).

"i was a superfan of weiland in like 2016-17. i had post notifications on, and when i saw he got verified & changed his name, i swooped in and sniped it. i sat on the handle for ~6 years."

How much do you think having the weiland name helped boost your following or grow your account?

"one side thinking im gavin and one side calling me an imposter of their favourite rapper. def a fun lore dynamic."

Yes I agree.

"i didnt want people i grew up with see me start out making that type of video. its very embarassing until its really popular. so the gavin name acted as a fantastic "cover" if you will."

So it was less of an attempt to troll but more of an effort to protect yourself and reputation?

"just for the hoes bro not my reputation lol."

I have seen several men act like the world's biggest morons because that's the only way they know how to get an ounce of female attention. I told "Gavin" it seemed like he had more shame than most, to which he replied

"arguable."

In what ways would you say you lack shame? Either in the Gavin era or strapp era

"Ive never gaf i just do it for laughs and what i find funny at whatever time. treating my username swap like BC and AD is hilarious by the way."

Since Strappnasti's rebrand from @gavinweiland I had heard little to nothing about him and I know many felt similar. I was curious as to why he switched names after such success.

"i was gonna be strappnasti eventually, its confusing for weilands new fans and makes me exist in a "shadow" of sorts aiso out of respect for an OG!!! #duh."

How long have you wanted to be strappnasti and what is going to be the difference between strappnasti and what GW was?

"i been strappnasti online since 2016. i released music under that alias and its just my nickname. the difference is just ppl know me from videos i made. kinda like a tv show they remember i think it scratches the same vein."

Did you ever feel guilty or weird ab having the GW name?

"noooo hahah weiland fw the videos and the hustle. that shit settled and it was what it was"

When scrolling through Strappnasti's comments or comments under a post about him, it's hard to ignore commenters that claim he has "fallen off." I asked Strappnasti what effect he thinks the switch back to his OG name had on his career. He didn't seem to care much.

"lost 2slimey + maxon following in like 2 months. ts iust a joke to me"

Do you care if people misunderstand you or what you're actually about? It seems rn like people have a sort of general consensus they've developed regarding you

"I think it will grow positively eventually. i think people are in it for the ride - i make fun videos."

It seems to me that Strappnasti is a guy who is just passionate about the internet and enthusiastic to contribute to its culture. He told me about a website he is developing; he says he wants to create something that'll outlast him. We talked more about it and I think it is something deserving of is own article entirely. Although our conversation was short, I felt that he was genuine in what he does and who he is as a person. This is something I find increasingly more rare in today's underground climate.