Early life, family, educational background

Rapper, social star and bodybuilder, Bryan Silva – “GraTaTa Guy” – was born on 2 January 1991 in Florida, USA. His mother, Robin Silva, was a housewife and his father, Michael Silva was a salesman. He has an older brother, Philip Silva.

For family reasons, his family moved to Charlottesville, Virginia when Bryan was young until he was 12. At 13 he moved back to Florida and lived with his father, but the following year returned to Virginia. A couple of months later, he was arrested for attacking a school principal and breaking and entering, and went to jail for three years. He completed his GED when he was 16 and still locked up.

At 19, he moved to La Quinta, California where he got into bodybuilding, and joined the industry professionally.

Career

His rap song, “Gratata” earned him his recognition – the song is an onomatopoeia for the sound of a machine gun being shot. According to Bryan, when he was 8, he was a street-trained musician. He gained a lot of popularity from his Vines until the app shut down in 2016. One of his most-watched Vines was Bryan flexing and yelling “Gratata,” other Viners remade the video, which brought more attention to the original version. In 2013, Vine was launched, in 2015 Twitter bought Vine and then shut the app down in 2017 even though it had more than 200 million accounts.

Late 2017, Vine was somewhat relaunched in the form of TikTok by a Chinese app developing company, ByteDance. At the time of Vine shutting down, Bryan almost had 300 million views. He chose not to move his content to TikTok, but rather focus on his rap career in more mainstream ways.

In 2014 he released a number of songs including “Tony,” “She Call,” Swaggin,” Scary Site,” “Sway Like Bryan” and “Money and Finesse.” In 2015 he released “Spraying,” “Trappin” and “Foreign. In 2016, “My City” was released and in 2018, “Flex OMG Yeah” and “Gratata;” he uploaded his songs onto Soundcloud.

In an interview, he was quoted saying that support from his fans keeps him motivated to make new music.

Although he does not have the stereotypical bulky bodybuilder body shape, he has gained fame from his bodybuilding. Bryan has said that the way he presents himself to others is what makes him stand out from everyone else.

On his YouTube channel, “Bryan Silva GRATATA,” two of his most viewed videos are “That FuFu Lame Sh*t I Aint Wit It! I’ll Send Some Shots At Your Fitted” and “You Haters MAD. That I’m On #Worldstarhiphop.?Yeah You MAD Cuz I’m #GODBRYANSILVA.” He stopped uploading videos to YouTube on 9 August 2015; his channel has 12 videos and a total of 138 views.

Even though he is not gay, he likes to be involved in the gay adult industry, and he reportedly made $7,000 for a scene.

Personal life

On 3 January 2016, Bryan was arrested when Virginia, Charlottesville police found him in possession of a firearm, and allegedly pointed the gun at them during their standoff. The incident happened after the then 25-year-old held his then 17-year-old girlfriend at gunpoint – she reported him to the police, saying that he had threatened her with the gun. The cops showed up at his house to arrest him, but he initially refused to come out. He was sentenced to six years in prison on contempt of court charges and possession of firearms, with four years of his sentence eventually suspended.

Philip – Bryan’s older brother – was questioned on the stand during Bryan’s court hearing. He said that Bryan is nothing like his internet persona, but is a ‘good and caring person’ who has since matured. He added that Bryan is devastated and embarrassed about his behavior and what had happened. Philip also spoke about his brother’s fame online, and the judge said that he hopes none of Bryan’s young fans and viewers look up to him or see him as their role model.

In 2018, Bryan married Instagram model, Lissy Silva (neé Barney). From what they post online, they seem to have a happy and healthy marriage, and often post about their daily routine.

His fans especially enjoy when Bryan posts about his wife on his social media, leaving positive comments and compliments under a photo he posted with his wife, which he captioned, ‘I love my wife so much.’ Bryan and Lissy live in Florida – they don’t have children, and haven’t expressed a desire to have any, but nor have they said they don’t want to expand their family.

He often used the n-word which he justifies because he was around ‘the streets’ since the age of eight, and because he went to prison. The use of the word causes a lot of controversy, and many people disagree with him. In May 2014, a hoax of Bryan went viral and brought him a lot of attention – he was allegedly shot five times in the head and died, with the fake news adding that he was shot due to his over excessive use of the n-word.

He holds up a ‘bad guy’ persona online. He pushes that narrative by getting multiple tattoos on his body, mostly huge ones and having to do with drugs, death or murder. His songs mostly revolve around gangs, crime and violating the law. He believes in the idea that men have to be ‘macho’ and have muscles, so he trains at the gym several times a week.

Hobbies, favorite things and interesting facts

He follows the film industry, and has said that some of his favorite movies are “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” the “Fast and the Furious” franchise and the “Rocky” franchise. His favorite actress is Angelina Jolie, and his favorite actor is Vin Diesel.

He has been interviewed by television personality and stand-up comedian, Daniel Tosh, for having achieved fame at a young age. The interview was featured on Daniel’s television program, “Tosh.0”

• Bryan has said that he cannot imagine living without social media, and is addicted to all social media networks.
• He enjoys going to nightclubs and parties with his wife.
• He likes fast cars and drives a very expensive BMW.
• He has a cat named Gucci, and manages Gucci’s Instagram account along with Lissy.

Appearance

He has brown hair and brown eyes. He is 5ft 8in (1.73m) tall and weighs 143lbs (65kg). One of his most popular tattoos is on his chest, of big hands and wings with a crown. He has impressive abs and a slim figure, with some muscles.

Net worth and salary

As from early 2020, his income is estimated at a minimum of $1,400 monthly, and his net worth is at $450,000.