19 Million Followers, Losing Everything, and Starting Over in Nashville

Tayler Holder1:05

That'd be [ __ ] awesome.

Tayler Holder1:56

I grew up in a uh I grew up in a small town, man, just out of Fort Worth, Texas. Uh called Alvarado, Texas.

Not a whole lot going on there, man. We had like 1500 people when I was growing up, man. And it's uh it's definitely like expanded a little bit now. It's been a while since I've been back home, but my family's still all there, so I go back there and see them sometime.

It's definitely like a little sad to see like your small town like grown a little bit. You want to stay tiny for a little while. But, uh

Tayler Holder2:22

Yeah. So, my dad my dad was team roping growing up uh when I when I was super young last time. Team roping.

So, basically you're on a horse uh and you have you have like you have you you have you and your buddy on a horse like on opposite sides of this uh of this shoot. Boom. Steer runs out like they open it up and uh one of them ropes over the head. So, one head, one heels. So, one throws over the head, pulls it to the side, the other one comes and gets its feet and and basically like do some rodeo stuff like bunch of there's a bunch of different stuff with the rodeo, but my dad did roping and team roping.

Tayler Holder2:55

No, that's different. But my dad did do that as well. But, uh, what is that called?

Tayler Holder2:59

Yeah. Yeah. And then I did like mutton busting and stuff like that. Yeah. Where you like ride the sheep with the hockey helmet on?

Yeah. Dude, it was so funny. You know, you're just like bobblehead back then, you know. I grew up just, you know, we bounced around houses a lot. We were never in like really the same house for a while. I always bouncing. My dad was always traveling for work and stuff like that. He's he's he he was a a big welder his whole life and now kind of runs the company with him and stuff.

And uh yeah, d I just I got I got into dirt bikes when I was 3 years old and sports and all that. So I was just always like an outside kid growing up doing everything, adrenaline junkie, all that stuff. And lived there till I was about 18. And I when I was 16 started picking up the whole like Vine thing, man. Like I was got hurt doing moto and I was sitting there with my buddies. We were just watching these Vine kids and just thinking it was hilarious, man.

And ended up making a couple dumb videos ourselves post on some YouTube. It was I Dude, you know what's so funny is I actually went back and watched these videos like a year ago, not even lie. They're still on YouTube and stuff like that of me when I was like we had this like YouTube I think it was called like us three guys or something like that. Was like me and my two buddies, dude.

And um we were just dumb as [ __ ] dude.

Tayler Holder4:04

It wasn't dancing. Like dancing kind of came around whenever it was like just the TikTok stuff. when I was uh it was mainly like a bunch of like yeah like jackass style stuff or like just like these like little like trends that people were doing on YouTube or like we were doing a bunch of like yeah like painful stuff that was like funny as [ __ ] you know what I mean? Um or what we thought was funny at the time when you look back at it now it's like yeah y'all were just stupid.

But it it turned into something something really really cool man that I that I got to experience a lot of cool things in life with. So I'm

Did you play any traditional sports as a kid like football?

Tayler Holder4:31

played I played football, baseball, basketball growing up my whole life. I did track and stuff like that.

Tayler Holder4:39

But my [snorts] dad was my baseball coach when I started. I I was uh definitely baseball was probably my best sport. He was my coach growing up as well.

Tayler Holder4:46

I did

I did varsity my freshman year, but then I ended up dropping out of high school after my freshman year. Uh

Dude, school just like wasn't for me, man. I don't know. Like I had a mutual agreement. Like I didn't I didn't [ __ ] with school and it didn't [ __ ] with me, man. It was it was

What do your parents say when you say

Tayler Holder4:59

my they didn't like love it, but also like I kind of like I got picked on, man. I was I was kind of like a chubby kid, dude. I wasn't really like Yeah, I was really good at sports. I was really good at a lot of things that I did. Like um I was just always that kid that like had to be good at everything.

And uh but like not a lot of people liked me growing up. It was just like one of those things. And uh after that, I I just I wanted to leave school. I wanted to race dirt bikes. I wanted to that's I had planned on racing pro my whole life. Like that's what the goal was, you know? And um I ended up telling my parents, I want to I want to do home school. I want to leave school. It's not for me. Like I had I've had like super bad like ADHD.

I can't really focus very well and stuff like that. So like I just grades weren't always that great. Couldn't always I was struggling to play the sports cuz I couldn't pass my classes and stuff like that. And I dropped out. I I my my parents got me enrolled into this like Christian like home school thing and I just went and lived at a training facility for for a few years racing dirt bikes. Woke up every single day racing dirt bikes, training hard. So you guys

Tayler Holder5:58

Traveled all across the country. Yeah. Woke up, trained first thing in the morning, ran, did all this stuff, did two a days, all this, and went every weekend and went and raced.

Tayler Holder6:10

Mhm. Yeah. It's I mean it's it's like a it's like a fight camp. It's like a football camp. Like you got two days. Yeah. It's like you wake up and it's it's hard stuff. You live in like a bunk house with like 15 20 people that are all on the same team as you. Did any of

Tayler Holder6:29

Oh, dude, a lot. Like my my my one of my really really good friends, he's on top of the world right now, Haiden Deegan. You ever heard of like Brian Deegan? So his son, that whole family's great friends of mine. Um,

Tayler Holder6:44

I I don't know exact numbers. I don't really talk about the exact numbers, but what I've heard through the grapevine is like like per race they're doing like depending on like if they win and like there's win bonuses, there's this, there's that, but I I believe it's like 250 like a race. 250,000 a race.

Tayler Holder7:01

Yeah.

Tayler Holder7:02

Like 500 like on some of the bigger ones or what? Yeah, they're racing every weekend. They have off weekends too sometimes, but like Yeah. And then on top

Tayler Holder7:12

Yeah. Like not everyone riding cuz you got you have like privateeers as well. privateeers like they don't have full factory rides. So like they're just like they're like basically like an independent artist. They're just show up and like I'm coming to get you.

They're trying to basically get those sponsors. They're trying to get

Tayler Holder7:46

Dude, when you get factory stuff, man, it's just like it's different, bro. They they

Tayler Holder8:07

Dude. It's like nearly impossible to do it on your own, bro. Like, it's it's so expensive, man. Even just for racing moto, like just been in like amateurs, bro. Like it was it was like just shy of like 7 to 10 grand a weekend to go race, man. It was like, dude, like you got fuel, you got this funding all this.

Yeah, man. My my dad and my mom. My my mom would like my mom did hospice for 20 years. Um she she helped a lot of people for a long time. And then whenever she had me and my brother, she kind of raised us like at the house for a while while my dad was working. Then when we were old enough to be on our own, she went and worked like with my dad like in the cement plants and stuff like that. Wow. It was just really good money.

And they were they were just helping me and my brother get what to where we wanted. They were

Tayler Holder8:44

My brother is my brother works with my dad now as well. So my he's a Yes, sir. He's a welder. He works tool trailers or whatever. He just do he kind of will do whatever they kind of assign. How old is he? He's 3 years older than me. So I I just turned 29. He's 32. Yeah. So

Tayler Holder8:57

Me and him were super super close, but like polar opposites. That's what I was saying. If you were to see my family like you were to think I'm adopted. Like my brother's like this like full beard like freaking like not we look nothing alike, man. And uh and it's it's it's funny, man.

Tayler Holder9:22

Yeah. So, I I got hurt pretty bad racing dirt bikes. I mean, I've always like kind of hurt myself. Broken damn near everything. Broke my legs, broke my ribs, broke my shoulders, collar bones. I just broke like a few years ago, I just broke my bone, my nose in half. Like what?

It was uh it was it was it's been pretty brutal, you know? That [ __ ] definitely hurt.

Tayler Holder9:37

The broken orbital. I mean, it it definitely like it hurts, right? But like when you have a broken orbital, like you can't really you can't put it like a cast on like you have to just kind of sit there.

Um but uh it was it was the the nose like between my legs, uh my ankles, my every everything that I've ever broken. Like it's the nose was probably the worst by far. And I think it was because of how bad it was broken. Like I'll show you a photo when we're done here. You can put it on here if you want or whatever. My nose is like completely sideways. Like

Tayler Holder10:06

And the only reason it was so bad for me is because obviously they had to like I had to go under they had to break it back straight. They had to like like pack it and splint it like all this stuff. And um I was sitting in that splint for like 2 3 weeks and it was all packed. So like I could for 2 3 weeks

While I'm sleeping and everything. And then whenever we got it out and the splint off, it was still fractured. So, like they said I couldn't sneeze or blow my nose for 2 months. I was like I was like, "How the [ __ ] do you not sneeze for 2 months, you know?" And believe it or not, I got I literally would like use like this part of my hand and like put it up against it so like no air could go up there and tickle it and I would just like tilt my head back until it went away.

But because they were It freaked me out. They were like if you sneeze

It can create like air pockets in your nose and like all these things. And I was like I do not want to go through this. And it was just

It was just a rough like thing. It was just

Tayler Holder10:58

I didn't, bro. It was so funny. It was And what's even more funny, he was on a pit bike, dude. It was on a 110 and like which is like a little small one, but we have full modded out like like 143s, like big board kits. They're fast. So, you're hitting big jumps that these things should probably not be doing. But, I had a sick track at my house for pit bikes. We were supposed to be racing at like or like riding at like another pros track like up the road and he ended up like having some family stuff going so he was like going to be we had to postpone a couple hours like we were so we I had a couple pros at my house.

We're just we were like [ __ ] it. we should we just unload the bikes and just do a couple laps here for fun until they're ready. Like let's just throw down.

I hadn't prepped my track in like few months. So it was in like rough shape a little bit and I had this like pretty fat like triple step up out of this out of this corner. Well, we come around two of them hit it. They get like sketch like super sketch over it and I was like I'll hit it real quick. Didn't have a helmet on. I hit this thing all the [ __ ] time, dude. It was just one of those like things. But came across seat bounced it and just like hit like a kicker, dude.

And just threw me like this like gnarly endo. like straight forward, dude. And uh I like I don't know why I didn't bell. I just thought like maybe I'll I'll ride it out. I held on and I just landed a little too far forward and ended up going over and I like rolled over and that's what like broke my shoulder and my ribs. And then the bike like hit the ground, came over and landed on my face.

Tayler Holder12:08

And uh it didn't knock me out or give me a concussion or anything like that, but it just like dude like it felt like the way I could I didn't know anything was broken yet. Didn't know nothing. All I could see was like there was blood coming out of my nose, but like dude, it literally felt like it just like ripped the whole side of my face off. That's what it felt like.

Tayler Holder12:26

Dude, it was it was I'll show you. Dude,

Tayler Holder12:28

Yeah, it was like uh Watch this, dude. I actually have it in my in my favorites right here, dude. It was a It was a pretty gnarly little thing.

Tayler Holder12:41

They were like trying to like keep me calm. They were like, "Uh, cuz I was like they they ran over there like, "Are you good? Are you good? Are you good?" And I could see my nose bleeding and my face was just like kind of numb at this point, but and I was like, "Is my face okay?" Yeah.

And they were like, they looked at me and they were like, "Yeah, your nose is just bleeding." And I was like, "You guys aren't [ __ ] being honest with me right now." You know what I mean? And uh

Tayler Holder13:17

I It was just broken. But this is Yeah. This is what I looked like for a while, dude. Like I was I was all [ __ ] up, dude.

Tayler Holder14:28

Was the bike fucked?"

Tayler Holder14:36

Moments like that though, dude. you just like crashing or getting landed on or something like that racing like people will land on you, I'll land on people or whatever

And like you crash hard and you got to like I instantly get up and I like run in a circle, make sure my legs are working, make sure everything's working and then I'm like, "Oh, fuck." Okay, I sit down. Like I just had to make sure everything's working still.

Tayler Holder16:39

So, I I was when I was living at the training facility, I kind of like as I stopped racing as much at that moment in my life, like my parents were going through a divorce as well. They were not doing too well. And luckily, they they spent a few years apart, few hard years apart, which were honestly great for the long run cuz they they ended up getting back together and they're still together now. So that's beautiful as well. But uh

Um it was just a lot going on, man. We had a lot of stuff going on. Um and uh and so I just I just kind of like lost my passion for racing and my buddies were just like watching these Viners, dude. And we thought it was hilarious. Started making videos, like I said, and

I went out to LA a few times and met a few of those guys that I was like like the Paul brothers, uh like Jake and Logan Paul, like all these guys that were like crushing it at that time. And I told my parents, I was like, "How did you get connected with them?" So, I was like I was like definitely one of those like fanboys for sure that like I I watched them and I I was like always studying. I was taking my notes. I was watching what they were doing.

And they all lived in this in this complex in in LA uh on Vine Street called 1600 Vine.

Tayler Holder17:38

And

I was always, like I said, I was always like very wired differently to like just like to accomplish what I needed to accomplish, you know?

And um I told my mom, I was like, "Mom, if I'm going to figure this out and I'm going to do it, I have to live where they're living. like I have to go there and I have to make this happen.

And uh I they ended up getting me an apartment there. Um and I

Tayler Holder18:12

Like dude, that's what I told him. I had no idea what I was doing. I was like I was I'm going to go famous on the internet.

Tayler Holder18:20

Not huge. They were doing good, you know, like they were probably making like six figures a year maybe, like which is still which is still great in your average like thing back in like 2015, you know what I mean? But it's not like what it is now, you know what I mean? But I I literally told my parents I had no idea. I was just like, I'm going to go be famous on the internet. Like that was just my goal was just be famous on the internet.

I had no idea the responsibility it came with. No idea any of that stuff.

And uh I went out there. They got me an apartment there. And uh

How did you link with those guys? Uh ju so I would literally go outside like I would wake up first thing in the morning. I would go down to the gym that was there. I would work out for a second

And then I would go sit by the pool all day long.

Tayler Holder19:00

It was an apartment complex. I would go I would either just go walk around. This is when like the hoverboards were like in too. So I would go ride my hoverboard

On every level of the apartment complex by every every apartment. I didn't know where anyone lived. like I would go to like the the the conference room like where the pool tables were. Like all this I would just hope to run into people

And I eventually did. I started running into people. I started meeting people. I met a lot of awesome people, the Cameron Dallas, the King Batches, the Paul brothers, the all these guys, the Dolan Twins, the all these guys that were just crushing, you know, and um ended up getting really close with a guy named Cameron Dallas that was that was basically like the runner. Him and like Aaron Carpenter and and all these guys of this thing called MagCon. MagCon was like, it stands for like meet and greet convention and it was basically like the first ever like social media tour.

It's where like Shawn Mendes started. That's where like a lot of the stuff happened.

Tayler Holder19:51

Literally, it was it was literally like they would go and go up on stage. It's so funny to think about it now cuz I'm like today it would like just never really work like that anymore. But like back then content creating was so new everything like these these fans would come and they were selling out like 5 to 7,000 cap rooms. like it was like pretty big and they were just coming to meet these guys that they saw on the internet and like on stage we were just doing like the fun like challenges we were doing on the videos and we would invite fans up and do them with them too and like

It was all just like just

Tayler Holder20:23

It was like like whether it would be like dating games or this or that. Like it would just be like fun stuff that just skits that we were doing on the stage, you know what I mean? And we we would involve the fans in it too. And

Tayler Holder20:39

Yeah we would we would hang out like every day and it would be like every day was like you know whiteboards like it would either be whiteboards or sticky notes or we would just straight up with a dry erase marker like write [ __ ] on our mirrors like manifest and stuff like just wait we just write [ __ ] down every day like it

So everyone was like it was very much

Tayler Holder20:52

It seems like we're just like definitely like going online just taking a video of ourel like trying to be hot and then uploading it and then like it was that easy but like no it was like

It was like [clears throat and snorts] hard hard as [ __ ] work. Like I mean like hard as [ __ ] Obviously we're we're filming like just easy [ __ ] but like there's it's work, you know? It's it's it's 247. You guys are you have an entire production company. You have an entire team. You have a you have everything that you guys are doing every single day. And if you're not if you're not working on content, it's like what you're doing with like the the the brands, the businesses of this, like how you're like making this to like scale for them, etc.

Like it's it's it's always just trying to scale something. And and always

Tayler Holder22:07

Bro." all those guys like in the in 600 by like they they weren't like I mean granted like yeah for sure I met like a few [ __ ] that like just didn't even give a [ __ ] to give me a time of day but also there was like a lot of the guys that like they weren't rude they were very kind to me but like I was nobody you know what I mean? So like they didn't pay me any attention until I had some stuff start moving which is like that's just kind of how the industry is.

It kind of sucks that it's that way.

Tayler Holder22:49

Yeah.

And then you, you know, there's one guy that actually I haven't talked to in and I man I I I don't even I don't know. I think he was like I think he's like homeless now, which is kind of sad, but like

There was a guy, his name was Shells. Um, and he owned this studio called West One in in LA. And I knew that that's where like these like it was like Jack and Jack and like some of these other guys that were also these big Viners with MagCon and stuff. And I saw that they followed him. And so I even like reached out to him one day and I was like, "Yo, like I want to do this. Like I want to be like with these kids.

Like I I can see myself as the top as well." And he like brought me out to LA, introduced me to all of them, like kind of mentored me through all of it, got me with them. And at that point, that's like whenever like that's before I moved out there. But I uh he he helped introduce me to a lot of a lot of people in the early stages. And then he uh he had some just rough stuff with baby mama life stuff, all this whatever.

And I think he's like had a rough run the last couple years with life. But dude, he was someone that literally put me on the map and I've stayed in contact with him for a long time. I just haven't talked to him probably in the last couple years. But

But yeah, dude, he he he was someone that like definitely helped structure and changed my life at the very beginning of that whole LA experience.

Tayler Holder23:58

So, I I I started fighting a little bit back in Texas, like my my dad, like I had some buddies that he worked with that was like Golden Glove boxer and like stuff like that. And like I had this guy that was like an MMA fighter that my that my mom was friends with his wife and um and all that stuff. So, like I I just like started doing these little like [ __ ] like classes. Like where I'm from, man, there wasn't a wrestling team.

There wasn't fighting there. There we didn't have nothing going on. We didn't even have a restaurant in my hometown. And uh we thought we were on the map whenever we got Dairy Queen. We were like, "We're [ __ ] here, dog." Like, you know what I mean? And uh but

Tayler Holder24:33

Dude. We were We were very small town. Like very very small.

And uh and basically we just uh I would just like kind of do like a little bit of like here and there. Like I didn't it wasn't like real real training, but uh fell in love with it, man. I loved the idea of just like self-defense and fighting whether I ever did anything professionally with it or not. I just loved the idea of it. And uh when I went to LA, I very quickly became friends with this guy named Ryan Garcia.

Tayler Holder24:57

Ryan is I've been with him since Victorville. Like since like in the gym with his dad,

Tayler Holder25:07

Yeah, Ryan Ryan is a is a very very good kid, man. He he he had he was another one that had like a lot of attention thrown at him really quick and he had a lot to figure out with life very quick. And you know, just like everybody, man, he he made some mistakes in front of like the entire world. And that's just that's a part of it, man. They leave no room for maturing. And I would tell you right now, man, he's

He's definitely like someone that's grown up to be someone that like I really do admire. He loves Jesus more than anything in the world, man. You could tell he wants to be so good, man. And he's, you know, he's in a very tough world to to always be perfect, you know what I mean? But, uh, he's a good kid, man. He's he changed my life as well. He took me to Canelo Alver Alvarez's with him. I was at Canelo's for a while. I still talk to Canelo here to day.

Yeah. Like,

Tayler Holder25:50

Yeah. That's where I did my first camp at for my first fight that I fought at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

Tayler Holder25:56

Yeah. Yeah. First fight ever was freaking 30,000 people, dude. It was It was crazy. You know, was so funny. It was It was uh it was this whole like thing, dude. I was supposed to fight a different guy um at like I was I was a lot lighter than what I am now, but I was like 160 lbs. Um and then last minute opponent change and uh so it technically ended up being an exhibition fight because because of it. But this guy they brought in he he had fought Jake Paul and stuff like that as well and he was his name's Gibb.

Tayler Holder26:23

And uh and he he was like 193 lbs or like he was like 30 he was like 35 lbs heavier than me when we fought

And it was good. Went the distance got like all that stuff. It was it was such a sick experience dude. And then uh I stayed in there whatever. It it ended up being a draw there. Um but uh I did fight again about a year and a half ago. Got second round knockout as well. Um but that fight it was just cuz I took that fight cuz my parents house had burned down and uh dude they were they were just like a lot going through a lot of [ __ ] and uh I was I was I was high on Broadway man.

I was smoking a joint and Ms called me from Misfits and was like yo do you want to fight this guy his opponent like failed his brain scan like all this stuff and I he was like this is the budget I got and like it wasn't like an ungodly amount of money but it was something that could have really helped my family. You know what I mean? It was actually like it was it was pennies compared to what I should have got. But it it was 50 grand.

Tayler Holder27:11

And it was kind of most

Profile a little bum for sure like that. So it was like easy easier, but I was just not in shape, dude. I had not been training. I was like on a bender and I was like he was like it's this it's this black guy like he's 185 lbs. Like da da da da. And I was like

I was like I could be down but when is it? He goes this Saturday. And I was like I was like I looked at my phone. I was like in four [ __ ] days. Like I was like what? I was like, "Fuck it. Let's do it." You know what I mean? And thank God I got I was like after I first round first round was good, whatever. I got I walked back out and but I was like I was tired, dude, going into round two because I just hadn't been in the gym, bro.

3 minutes is long when you're in there not training. And

And I went out there and I told my coach, I looked at him, I said, "I have to put him out this round." And he was like he was like, "Are you tired?" I said, "Brother, we're in for a long night if I don't get out of here like right now." And and uh I went out there and he was he was he he ended up kind of gassing out, too. And I I finally put him down and and he was he was done. So I was like that was

Tayler Holder28:07

Yeah. So that that was good. But yeah, dude. No, I did I went out there did sparred with Canelo, sparred with Ryan, all that stuff. We were

Tayler Holder28:13

Yeah.

Tayler Holder28:14

Yeah, dude. It was

Tayler Holder28:16

Dude? Insane. Like he he was working with me, but like you know, cuz whenever I first went there, it was it was day one in the gym. Eddie put me in there to spar him. They just wanted to see me move.

Tayler Holder28:25

of it, but nothing like super crazy. the

Tayler Holder28:31

Bro I'm like I'm like and it was funny cuz at first he was like round one they were just he was just filling me out but Canelo does this like he for whenever he spars like all these like world champions as well for like the first three rounds he spar like 12 rounds whatever he just sits there he like he doesn't throw a whole lot like that's why I feel like his defense is so solid but like he doesn't move like he just like he'll be up against the ropes they're just [ __ ] unloading blah blah blah blah blah and then they step back and he's like come on [ __ ] come back like whatever and so round one like was just me like kind of like tagging him here and there, touching him, feeling it out.

I was definitely nervous cuz I'm in there with Canelo, you know what I mean? And we got we got like Andy Ruiz watching us, we got like Ryan watching us. We got like all these people watching us, dude. And so he ended up finally towards the end of the round once he figured out like I I definitely wasn't like just some like scrub, you know what I mean? He starts like tagging me back and starts working with me, whatever. We end up doing three rounds and it was like the second and third round was was a lot harder and I could tell he was like turning up.

He wasn't trying to put me out of there, but like

He was hitting me hard, bro. Like I could feel it. And he does this thing, bro, where you watch his fights where he attacks like that lead shoulder. I don't know if you ever see how he does that, dude. And bro, like by the end of that third round, like I couldn't even hold my my my my jab hand up, dude. Like he he does this thing where like post post and just comes over and just like hits your shoulder, bro. And it just kills you, dude.

Just kept kept dropping. Then he just kept catching me cuz my hand kept dropping, dude.

But it was good work. But I learned a lot from those guys. And I I I feel like they they took my fighting to like the next level as well. that I truly feel like

I haven't been able to show yet cuz even that first fight with the opponent change with everything the weight difference like I was in my head I didn't do a whole lot of like amateur stuff or anything either so it was like straight to 30,000 people like watching you and dude you walk out there man like

Tayler Holder30:08

Your heart falls out of your ass dude there's your arms kind of go numb you're like oh my god bro you're super just like locked in and and now that like I've done it a few times man I'm excited to get back in there and and show them what I can actually do so

Tayler Holder30:26

Was it one or two? Which one?

Tayler Holder31:03

You're like, you find out real quick if

Tayler Holder31:03

I mean, dude, it's it's tough cuz you get in there, too, and it's like you got to you got to go out there and and stick that [ __ ] hard first. Like, you got to let him know like because if I go if you go out there and you get you get cracked, you start secondguessing like what if you want to be in there or not. But it's also just like when you go out there, the unknown of like you guys are going out there to like [ __ ] kill each other.

You guys are like anything can happen. If I if I drop if I make a mistake, bro, I'm going out. You know what I mean?

And that's where just like you got to be super disciplined. You got to just be like that's where like you can't ever you can train as hard as you want, man. You can't you can't prepare for like the the nerves and that no matter how hard you train, you can't train. That's just reps. You know what I mean? And the nerves was definitely the hardest like obstacle to jump over for me whenever it was the fighting side of stuff.

Tayler Holder33:41

Man whenever I I I you know it kind of really took off like as I kind of started getting a platform on Vine that's got whenever Vine kind of started like dying out and then it was Musical.ly Musical.ly was like another form of TikTok but it was like the like high pitch like audios this like sped up videos that were like whatever and and uh I had got like a million followers on there.

Tayler Holder34:01

And um [snorts] and then and then I had like about a million on Instagram too from it.

And then that's whenever Musical.ly kind of started dying as well. And and then that's when TikTok kind of like joined them together. TikTok became a thing. I was like super on my wave where I was like I'm over this like cringy [ __ ] Like I want to I want to do what I actually do like and I wanted to do YouTube. I wanted to do like dope stuff. and me and stuff. Motorcycles, whether it's like fighting stuff, whether it's just like crazy adrenal I've been, you know, I've been skydiving [ __ ] 10 times, dude.

Like I I've just I've jumped out of hot air balloons. I've you know, all these things.

Yeah, dude. And I was like, I want to I want to do dope [ __ ] Like I don't want to do this like this gay stuff anymore. Like, you know what I mean? And like I was just like dead set on YouTube. And uh I ended up like a few of these TikTok kids were like, "You got to hop on the app. You got to do it. You got to do it." And I finally made a few videos and like when I say like cuz like that million followers transferred over from Musical.ly because they they joined.

So I I had already had a million on TikTok technically, but like it was like a million of like kind of like dead followers honestly. Like it was like my views were like 5,000 views when I started posting and I was like this is [ __ ] Like I don't even want to do it, you know?

And um I had one video blow up uh pretty early on that did like it was like 17 million views or whatever.

What were you doing? It was like this it was like this funny skit that was like I don't even know how to explain it but it was like you know that song where it's like I [ __ ] a [ __ ] in a bag with a Burberry on whatever. It was like so [ __ ] stupid. It was like me talking to like a doctor or whatever and like my parents are in there was like I [ __ ] a [ __ ] in a bag with a bur on and the doctor was like what are you saying?

It's like talking about like me going to get checked up like after like I like [ __ ] a bad [ __ ] like kind of thing. And it was like and then like the mom was like speak up son. He was like I [ __ ] a [ __ ] in a back with a Burberry like whatever. It was like this dumb skit. Like I don't even know why it [clears throat] went so crazy.

And uh it was it was with my old buddy. Uh it it ended up doing like 17 million. I gained like half a million followers just off of that one video.

Tayler Holder35:56

And uh and we I was like, "Okay, maybe there is some maybe there is something here, you know?" And I started just kept doing it. Kept doing it. And man, we were doing like I gained 10 10 million in the first year.

Tayler Holder36:15

Yeah. So, so whenever like the whole like I kind of go down it with this. So, like

There's so many people that have millions of followers that are broke as [ __ ] Like there's so many people because it's not really like just the followers that pay you. Like really like TikTok and Instagram like don't pay you anything. Like there is definitely ways like you get over one minute long videos. There is some monetization with it. There is like all this stuff like Facebook definitely pays more than like anybody else probably. But like it's all like it's all like brand deals like all this like that's like where the real money is or or your own products that you're selling.

Tayler Holder36:49

Dope. That's where that's where like for me like like my digital agents were like very like they they are the ones that took my finances to like the next level when it came to that stuff. I we were living in in this thing called the hype house that I was telling you about. The hype house.

Tayler Holder37:04

So right when quarantine hit. So I I actually do no one knows this. I had the first like other than Jake Paul, he had like team 10 for a little bit and stuff like that. But like as far as like the TikTok house, like I had the first ever like hype house or content house that you wanted to say like basically I had this house that like had a boxing ring in the middle of it like like Bryce Hall, Josh Richards, Pton Mormier, Jaden Hustler, uh like Lily, like all these people.

Addison I moved to Addison Rae in my house when she had 30,000 followers, bro. Like all these people like

Tayler Holder37:32

I didn't own the Hype House. That was like a a thing that they did after me. But like all the people that were like or the the main people of the hype house like lived with me first

Tayler Holder37:42

Yeah. And I rented they all slept on my couches. Like we were all and then we were going to go get a bigger house and do this. And then uh there was like h like there was this other guy that was like wanting to do like sway house. There was this like like this guy Thomas that wanted to do hype house. And uh they ended up doing like two different houses. Okay. And um for a minute I I was just like I was just middle ground.

Quarantine started hitting, whatever. I lived in this apartment and me and my two friends kind of like blew up doing our like TikTok stuff and because there was like we were quarantined, we couldn't we couldn't leave the house. So, we just made videos all day long in this apartment

And uh they ended up blowing up. Thomas calls me and was like, "Hey, I want you to come to the hype house. Like, I want you to come move in."

And I was like, "Okay, I'm only coming if they can come with me."

Tayler Holder38:21

And uh he agreed to it. And we went and did the hype house for a few months. Being there, I just was like super unhappy with the way that they were running things. like I we just didn't see eye to eye. Thomas had a I I believe they're still together, but Thomas had a girlfriend at the time that uh that was like very like I I was a grown man paying paying my own way. We all were splitting this house. It was $50,000 a month and we were all splitting this house and I'm like

Tayler Holder38:47

So that's so that's where I'm going with it after too is like I I was I'm this grown man paying for my own rent. I had the guest house side of it and I had to ask her if I could bring somebody over. My girlfriend, a friend, a guest, anything. I had to ask permission to bring somebody over. I was like, not doing that. Like, you know what I mean? Like it was just super culty. Like everybody in the house, like a lot of them, other than like the super main guys, like a lot of them I had millions of followers but were broke as [ __ ] I went to Thomas.

I was like, man, like dude, let's get a sponsor to pay for this house. Like you're the runner of this dude and you're and he was too busy focus being an influencer instead of like running the house out. Dude, what he did was so like what he had structured and built there had the potential to be so [ __ ] amazing and so like he had so much stuff at the at the tips of his fingers. But I get it too. Like

Whenever you have all that you want to be that too. Like I I

Tayler Holder39:40

And he could have been the influencer that he wanted to do and he could have had a guy looking over all of it. And I I just saw a lot of these guys that were like broke, struggling, paying, you know, for this house and living in this house. People were sleeping in the movie theater. We had 21 people living in this [ __ ] house that was $50,000 a month. That was like

Tayler Holder39:57

Exactly. And basically I went to him. I was like, "Yo, like let's get these guys brand deals. Let's get the money. Let's get them like let's get a sponsor to pay for the house so they're not paying anything." And he basically was like, "I I don't want to. I got an idea. I'm running it. I d" And I was like, "All right, cool." This guy named Markeel Washington, Thomas had told him he could be in the hype house. was moving from at uh Atlanta I think Georgia somewhere in Georgia to go live in the hype house and basically like Markel had a going away party left his family like packed up everything moved across the country and got to LA and Thomas was like h actually by the way like you can't move anymore like it's not going to be a thing and at that point I I had known that and I had pulled Markeel out to the side and on the balcony cuz

I was already planning this house and I was like hey man I know some things that you're unaware of right now I have this house I want you to come be a part of it And and like I kind of just like left it at that. I didn't tell him he wasn't going to be a part of the Hype House. Like I kind of told him like you're not going to do this. You're going to be with me though. Like kind of thing because like I didn't want to break his heart.

That like dude I mean dude he packed up everything, bro. And this guy didn't have money at the time.

Tayler Holder40:58

I think that like also like there was a moment in my life too where like I had I had I had kicked some of my best friends out of my house because there was there was more popular and better and brought better benefits and I was just an arrogant douchebag that like just didn't. I was just I was just trying to get the next thing, man. I was just trying to like better myself and they didn't really give a [ __ ] who I was hurting, you know?

Tayler Holder41:16

And uh you know, and that's and that that's where like dude, like I I I've went through a lot of growing and development and I that's where I think that like I give Thomas like even though I don't I don't really love Thomas like in and the things that uh whatever, but like I I understand that he was also in a really like hard thing that like may have made him not the best version of himself because I was there as well, you know.

And uh long story short, I went and did my own house. I What was it called? It was called the compound. And so I lived right next to Jake Paul. We had Stevie Wonder's old house. Had a basketball court, like a bowling alley. Like

Tayler Holder41:47

Dude. I [ __ ] I guess so, man. He was I don't know how, dude. After living in that house, like there's all these conspiracies about how he's like not actually blind. And like don't hate me cuz I I'm not making these accusations here, but like I don't know how the [ __ ] he got around that house. It was 33,000 ft.

Tayler Holder42:01

Multiple levels. I was like, I don't know how he got through that house being blind. Like there's just no way. Like I don't know. But I got with my agency. I was like, I want to go do this. I I know what I know I can do this better than the way the hype house did. I know I can all this stuff. And I basically I went and got this app called Triller. You ever heard of Triller? So Triller and they came in and they funded the house.

Yeah. That way everyone was living for free. They were paying $50,000 a month for the house. I I had my core group that I had brought with me, you know, the two people that I had started during quarantine. I brought Markeel with me and then I had like a few others that I had scouted as well and brought in. I uh Scott a couple people had trial weeks this that honed in on our like official like crew that we were going to be doing it with and basically only one I think it was only one other one was with like a different agency than me but I basically signed everyone to the same agency I was with and that way we were all in house it was A3 it was Abrams okay and we were uh we were all under the same basically umbrella to make brands everything just super easy with

Tayler Holder43:02

Yeah. So, I had a talent development deal with all the people in the house that was basically like um other than like the two that I started with. I didn't sign them to a deal because we we had we were just we started this together, you know what I mean? But like I definitely was still helping them a lot and I flipped their life around for sure. But like

Um I basically I had this whole idea though. My agents just kind of like

Were just help me bring it to life. Like I because they had all the connects to to to bring the brands in to make these kids money as well. And I just had had such a rough time with like people just [ __ ] me over, stealing a bunch of money, like just prolonging my success, you know what I mean? And um I basically we signed everybody there. We uh moved a moved a handful of people in. Some of them were struggling like the there was these two twin girls that were in the house that uh that like their families were struggling.

I gave them $10,000 cash out of my own pocket on Christmas just to help their family. Their family was about to sell their house. And then within seven months, six or seven months, everyone in the house was millionaires. Really? We had we had uh we had Abrams Arena. had like we were basically searching for like annual long deals, you know what I mean? That way like we knew no matter what we were doing 190,000 a month this month and then we had one offs that would get us up closer to that 250 300,000 a month.

Tayler Holder44:12

Seven.

Tayler Holder44:26

It was it was definitely like Yeah, it was like it was definitely like [clears throat] the platform like who was bringing the most, you know what I mean? And stuff like that. I did have them all in talent development deals where it's like I commissioned only 10% if if if that. But also a lot of times I didn't even take my commission cuz I was making so much money, you know what I mean? I just, you know, obviously have

Tayler Holder44:43

Yeah. So they got us individual deals or they got [clears throat] us like group deals as a house. Like, you know, for instance, I got us uh this wasn't the agents, but I had got us through Facebook uh like a reality show through Facebook. The budget was ah [ __ ] dude. It's been years. I I think the budget was like either like $1.3 or $1.5 million for the show. We filmed for 3 weeks and uh basically because I facilitated the whole thing, I took 500.

Tayler Holder45:09

Um and then like the lower ones, they did like I think the lowest person made like 100 grand.

Tayler Holder45:20

Just for us. Yeah. So they paid us. So it was like I took like 500 or I think the lowest one might have been like 80 but it was like 80 then like 90 like one whatever. Yeah. And it kind of trickled down and everyone still made a lot of money in 3 weeks. Yeah. And

Tayler Holder45:38

Yeah dude. I mean, we we lived in that house for uh for a year and about the after the year we were going to live in in another content house. Um we went and looked at it. We were about to move in all the stuff. I just like I was also at a moment where I was like I was kind of just wanted to live on my own. I went and got my own house and studio

Live in a a group house like that. But I mean you were a kid. Yeah, it was it was dude I was like a kid but growing up but like I was like I was young dude with a lot of things thrown at me from like coming from an area that like just just didn't have that in life, you know? And I was I was definitely like there was a there was a long time that I was a version of myself that like I was not proud of.

I wasn't the best mentor I could have been in life. I wasn't the best friend. I was I was definitely like involving myself and I wasn't the best partner, man. There was a moment in my life where I was cheating on my girlfriends, dude. I was like just not I dude I was I had so much

And that that that world out there is just [ __ ] man. You got you know like everyone out there is is very very bad people. There's very very few times you run into some very good people and I just I was in the wrong cruise bro like I was very inspired by bad people.

Tayler Holder46:49

Never had a sip of alcohol in my life, man. What? Never had a sip of alcohol. And that's like talking about like the way my parents were when they just like kind of let me do these things. Like I kind of admire them for that because I feel like it did shape me into um the what I like to believe is like my early stages of being this young man that I know I can be. And I think it was because I wasn't super sheltered growing up.

Like I my brother was like high school partying. Like we had high school parties at my house. I was young. I was seeing all these kids like throwing up drunk hung over.

Tayler Holder47:18

I've never had a sip.

Tayler Holder47:20

Think I think it was because I I you know like I dropped out of high school. I didn't have my like high school party stage. So I didn't really do I was living at a training facility like I I was super disciplined and then after that moved to LA was boxing too. So I was in the like I was training boxing. I was this I was always just like and then by the time I reached like you know 2021 I was like I haven't needed it this far.

Like I don't need it. Like what? It's not going to do anything for me. If anything it's just going to kill me a little faster. You know what I mean?

Tayler Holder47:46

And um and that's where like whenever I went through like a few just the hardest years of my life, man. I I I had never smoked, drank, nothing, dude. And um I ended up like, man, I lost a bunch of weight, dude. I was I'm 6'2, you know? I was I was I was 150 lbs, man. I was like skin and bone. I wasn't sleeping.

I wasn't eating. I wasn't I was so depressed, man. I tried killing myself, man. I was like, Dude, it was it was a rough It was a rough patch, man.

Tayler Holder48:21

Yeah. Yeah. And uh basically I was like I want to go live on my own and they they went and lived in the house. We still all made content together. It was all still fine and stuff like that. And then uh but

Tayler Holder48:29

I got my own house. Yeah. We were uh in Studio City.

Tayler Holder48:32

Yeah. I was in Studio City. They were in West Hollywood. Um uh right off like Sunset Boulevard. Um they were actually in the old Sway House. The Sway House was there as well. And then they went to that house and Triller Triller paid for that one as well. And then uh we just had a I guess like to respectfully say, we just had a a falling out when it came to contracts and agreements and and this and that. And there was a there was a few people that uh that wanted out of their contracts that uh

That basically came to me and was like, we just feel like we're at a point to where we don't need you anymore. And I was like in my head I'm like kind of [ __ ] up, right? But like talking

Tayler Holder49:20

Because I think that they had in mind that this talent development deal was a management deal.

Yeah. I think that they like mixed the two up and like they were like you don't bring us brand deals. You don't this. You don't that. And I was like well well let me remind you what I signed you to. I didn't sign you to a management deal. I signed you to a talent development deal. means like literally from your your legal team, your day-to-day, your manager, your agency, your money, your platform, everything like in the most like non-douchebag way, like you're welcome. I handed that to you on a gold platter.

Like I I I I expedited your [ __ ] like whole career like super fast. And

You know, long story short, I I wish I would have had the mindset that we were talking about earlier with like, you know, if someone doesn't work together, just let them go. You know,

Tayler Holder50:06

I said no and

Tayler Holder50:08

You know, I'd hate to think that that's like

Like the reason that a lot of in my like [ __ ] in my life like ended up going wrong, but like you know, a few weeks after that, man, a lot of [ __ ] started going very bad in my life, man.

Tayler Holder50:23

Yeah.

Tayler Holder50:26

Yeah.

And when you got to the point of proving

Tayler Holder50:27

No problem." Dude, it got it got to and I've talked about this a handful of times on podcast and I know that it'll never it'll it'll never reach the uh the audience that it ever reached whenever it was like being said and being talked about about me. And and that's okay, man. I I really truly think that like

I think I was so fed up with LA for a long time, man. I think that God had like put so many signs in front of me that like I I was supposed to leave that place a long time ago. And and I think being out here, God has never made it more clear to me that like I have a fraction of whatever what I ever had. I'm I struggle pretty bad financially still, dude. I And I hold my head high on that, bro. I'm done putting on like some facade on the internet that I'm like some like [ __ ] whatever.

I [snorts] truly think that that God had had something so much more special planned for me that I was so blinded by. And I think that he was genuinely like, Taylor, I'm going to [ __ ] your life up for a little while for you to understand, man. And whether it was like career-wise, whether it was just to to understand that like I was a bad version of myself. Um, and not bad as in like I did, I had everything in my I had everything in my phone.

That's why like if you look like legally wise, like every obviously like publicly wise, a lot was said about me, man. And it's it's very easy to get behind that. Like there's not one single police report. There's not one single legal case that was ever filed. There's not one single anything that ever came of it because

It was it was all just an inside job that they were like genuinely trying to [ __ ] my life. Do I think that there was a version of myself that I was unhappy with? Do I think that I wasn't the best mentor that I could have been? Do I think that I wasn't the best friend that I could have been? I was a piece of [ __ ] in my life for sure. But that's one thing I never had to do. We had we had uh we had everybody in the world throwing themselves at us, man.

And that's just one thing I've always I've always held my head high on. and and they they they they said some pretty hurtful things that hurt my life for a long time and when it came down to fixing it, they they kind of pulled back because of uh of some things that uh that wouldn't wouldn't wouldn't make them look right. And

Tayler Holder52:18

And and we went back.

Tayler Holder52:21

Yeah. And I I had full transparency, man. Like I I'd always I'd always kept some money back, man. And I I had had like I told you I had like about a million bucks chilling in my account, you know, in case I had investments out, I had this that I had whatever. But like I just always kept a good amount just in case [ __ ] slowed down, you know. I never expected something like that to happen. And

And um you know, this this stuff started happening very quickly. You know, I was advised to like, you know, crisis PR so they can like flip it, dude. Like I had to like do like a [ __ ] like $30,000 retainer for them to like go fix this online. And like that was [ __ ] That was didn't do [ __ ] for me. Like that was just 30 grand that wasted. That's like

Tayler Holder53:00

Dude I had I had a [ __ ] dude ungodly amounts of like I was hourly with my with my attorney and I still talk to my attorney still to this day. He's a freaking awesome guy and I love him. I hold him very close to my heart. But like we were just we were going back and forth, man. And these these these people that were like trying to ruin my life, man, were like were like, you know, we we'll shut up. We want nothing to do with this.

I have I have everything between the attorneys. I have everything, bro. That's just like the internet only chooses what they want to believe. I I sent out cease and desist letters and everyone was like, "He sent out letters to shut him up. He's obviously guilty." And I'm like,

"No, you [ __ ] dumbass. That's that's actually quite literally not how that works. It's it's it's I was sending these letters saying,

"If you keep making these accusations,

Tayler Holder53:34

take you to court and we're going to let everything come out." If I thought for a second I if I if I was worried about something that I possibly done, why would I ever be like, "Let's let everything come to light. Let's let let's let the me let's let the photos the messages the the everything and then like I had said that too on a podcast and everyone was like he's trying to threaten them with like these photos that like that's wrong too.

I'm like

I'm like I can't [ __ ] win right now. How is that wrong? They're they're falsely like trying to ruin my life right now. Like how is this wrong man?

Tayler Holder54:09

That didn't do anything and just had to

Tayler Holder54:09

while the media is saying horrible things. This is what I will say is like not not that like I I didn't do anything. What I will say is I I I definitely just slept with like people that I shouldn't have been sleeping with professionally wise is whatever that never bro they they said a bunch of stuff that had to do with like

Like under this that underage this that whatever that never that but like I definitely was just with people that I definitely could have been just smarter with. You know what I mean? That we were doing business together that we were I was just I was an arrogant [ __ ] bro. I was I was thinking with the wrong head. You know what I mean? And and I think that that's what I take from it the most is like I don't give a [ __ ] what anyone thinks about me on the internet anymore.

Bro, I've had the worst things in the world said about me.

All I know is that I'm really genuinely trying to figure out what it means to walk right with God. And and and I I'm far from perfect. I'm far from that and I still am, man. But I'm I'm really starting to figure this out, man. And I and I have a good idea of where I'm headed, what God has for me and and where what life like should look like a lot more. And I I'm uh I have, like I said, I have a fraction of what I ever had out there, but I'm I would choose this life a million times over than to ever go back to where I was.

Um and uh you know, it was an unfortunate thing, man. I I went dead broke, man. I went from having a million dollars in 6 months, I couldn't even afford a cheeseburger for McDonald's, man. It was it was oh, we're going to we're going to we're going to go on this podcast and say this and fix this and we'll shut up and this and that. And when it came down to it, it was it was basically like they didn't they didn't want to fix it. They didn't they were just like, "Hey, we'll

Tayler Holder55:40

Yeah. And they were just like, "Well, stop." And and and at the time, like they weren't like the the the attorney side of stuff was like, "T, I know this isn't what you want, man, but but like, you know, silence does speak, man. Like, it'll it'll all blow over. It'll all blow over." And I'm like,

And I'm like, this is the first time I've ever gone through something like this, man. I'm panicking, dude. Like, I'm I'm like, man, I don't know if it's going to blow over, dude. Like, this that and then like my family, of course, my mom's like my mom's such a mom, dude. And my my mom and dad are like they'll [ __ ] kill somebody, dude. Like, you know what I mean? They're like I've seen my dad [ __ ] put a pistol on somebody's head. You know what I mean?

It's like they're they're old school [ __ ] like

And um and and you know they're they're they're very like they love their son and they hate that their son's going through that and so they're always like [ __ ] these guys like let's [ __ ] their world up too. And I'm like I'm over here like really trying to understand why God's moving the way he's moving in my life and and uh so trying to balance that plus all the the hectic [ __ ] that was going on in my life, man. It was a lot, dude.

And I I got to a breaking point to where like taking my life was was an option at one point, man. And

And uh dude, through all that [ __ ] dude. I dude, not one single friend that I had in all the seven years that I was out there in LA ever off the record, I know that like when that stuff's going on, man, like you don't want to be associated with that. Like you can't be like the brands don't want to [ __ ] with you. You don't want to like I get that. But like these people knew my character, knew my heart, knew me, like knew everything.

I've done for a lot of people for years, man. Not one single person that I ever helped just showed up and was like, "How are you doing, Taylor? What happened, brother?" Like asking me just what's going on. Not not one, not a text, not a show up, not anything. like off the record with anybody. No, not anybody, bro. And

Tayler Holder57:16

I just never could understand it because I'm the guy that's like I'm like, "Dude, you you kill somebody, I'll help you hide the body. I'll tell you how [ __ ] stupid you are. I'll smack you around." But I'm like, that's like that's the friendship I hold, man. Like I'm

I don't give a [ __ ] what you're doing whether I agree with it or not. Like if you're doing something that's really bad, man, I truly believe you're just so disconnected with God. And I don't think you're far gone. I think people like learn from the most valuable or the I think people learn the most valuable lessons from the worst moments of their life. And that's why that's why I really really love like people like Jelly Roll and stuff like that. Jell's been like an older brother to me and

Tayler Holder57:51

He has a one hell of a story, man. And and it's very inspired. Yeah. You know, so you know what I'm talking about, man. And I think that those types of people are are some of the people that can teach you the most valuable lessons in life. And so I don't walk out on people when I see them doing bad. I I stand right there. If if you choose to just continue to be that person, at some point you're going to get left for sure. But like I'm here to know that you're you're just broken, man.

You're so like lost within God. And you just have no idea what's going on. And I I just like I I try to help people now that I've lived a moment of my life that that that I had that walk and that that realization with God. And I I hit absolute rock bottom, man. I I try to really really have patience with people that are also dealing with [ __ ] and and going through things whether it's true or false. I think that there's that just flipping your life around is possible and change is possible.

Man, I feel like I'm a prime example of it, dude.

Tayler Holder59:02

It did, bro. It did. I I like that's what I say is like man like the only the only happiness that it brought me was like the the validation I thought it brought me because like I could buy a one of one like $500,000 colon and Rolls-Royce or a Lamborghini or this or these like $150,000 watches to like make Taylor look like the [ __ ] And I was coming from like off of like a childhood that like I was far from the [ __ ] Like I was I was actually like the person that got made fun of like the most in my town.

Especially when I started making these videos, you know, like everyone made fun of me, man.

And I was never cool. And like when I when I could do cool things, I felt like I needed to make it be known. I felt like I had to show people because it was it was like, "Look at me now, bitch." Like, you know what I mean? And

Tayler Holder1:00:19

It's like social media. One thing that people got like messed up for a long time is like, dude, like this is all such materialistic [ __ ] that doesn't matter at the end of the day. At that point, dude, like I I had absolutely lost myself trying to find something that I thought was everything in the world. And at that point, you're just a sad guy in a big house.

Tayler Holder1:00:44

So I ended up, and this is this is what I mean by like, dude, I truly feel like God had had something so amazing, dude. Like I I I went from that to literally, man, I my whole life, man, gone, dude. like within a [ __ ] blink of an eye, man, gone, dude. I I I [snorts] had my I had a a sponsor paying for my house just like I did whenever I had my content house. They pulled out. I was stuck paying $25,000 a month, that $100,000 in lawyer fees, crisis PR, this, that, [ __ ] like all kinds of [ __ ] man.

I had my business manager at the time. She uh she made herself an authorized user on my American Express account while I'm going through all this [ __ ] They're like game plan on the back. Dude, didn't Bro, didn't file my taxes one time in all the years that I made multi-millions.

Tayler Holder1:01:29

Bro, she didn't do anything for me and then made her

Tayler Holder1:01:33

She She was someone that like And that's why it [ __ ] with me so bad, dude, is because she was someone that was like a hometown friend that like used to account for the Texas Rangers and

Tayler Holder1:01:43

Yeah, from Texas. And we used to used to And check this out. was even more [ __ ] up about it. She she was a uh she did it for the Texas Rangers. She went through some life problems as well. Ended up being like basically homeless and was like had like baby mama stuff with like another one of my family friends that grew up whatever. Long story short, she needed money bad. My parents helped her out and basically like let her come clean our house to just make a couple hundred bucks here and there to get just back up on her feet until she can go get a job and make more money.

Well, my mom had told me about it and all this stuff and how she her she went to school for being a an accountant, a business manager, this or that, whatever. And my mom was always running my my finances. My mom was always like my mamaager. She was the one running everything because I I didn't know [ __ ] You know what I mean? And um this lady made herself an authorized user on my American Express account without my permission. I don't know how American Express isn't like held responsible for this either because they never got my verbal permission to give her a card.

And basically she got herself her own card connected to my American Express and like for like four months, dude, swiping the card. I'm talking about like like jet ski like like uh resort rentals like like tables at the club like bro like $1,000 like Sephora [ __ ] like all this stuff dude like 30 30 grand a month bro just swiping my card for her own personal [ __ ]

Tayler Holder1:03:01

Bro, I she uh she uh ended up like finding out that we were like digging on [ __ ] internally somehow and like fled, bro. We couldn't find her forever, dude. And then my mom ended up finding her and pulled up on her. got like got all the [ __ ] threw papers in front of her, all this [ __ ] dude. And like basically she [ __ ] dis I have no idea where the [ __ ] she is right now.

Tayler Holder1:03:21

But I I I tried to [ __ ] I tried to legally go after her. I tried to like have American Express help us with some stuff, like telling them what's going on. And they were like, "Not our problem. You gave her your your password." And I was like, "That's like, bro, like that that's my like my business manager. You guys don't get She's supposed to have my passwords to like do all my [ __ ] and pay all my bills and all this stuff, but like I didn't tell you guys to give her a card connected to my account.

Like,

Tayler Holder1:03:52

Like, we had to hire a tax attorney. We had Bro, I had I've had a [ __ ] run, bro. And it's like I've had a [ __ ] up like couple years, man. and uh you know we we obviously we got it all settled with them and we we were doing everything right now and stuff like that but I just I had still trying to pay him back.

I had no idea. Yeah, bro. I I owed a lot of [ __ ] money to him because I made a lot of money. You know what I mean? But like it was just one of those things, man. Dude, it just kept getting [ __ ] hit over the head. Over the head over the head. Long story short, how I got to here was um right after that, dude, a few months later, I I had had a song with a friend that just was out here doing country music and she had called me and I've known her since I was like 15, man.

And she was aware of what I was going through and she just wanted to see if I wanted to come perform our song together just to get

Tayler Holder1:04:36

So, I had known her since I was 15. Like I said, she uh we met actually in LA whenever I went to LA the first time her

Tayler Holder1:04:44

Mhm.

Tayler Holder1:04:50

Uh I went uh my mom uh my mom went with me the first time and stuff like that and then and then I went back out there with that Shells guy that like we spent like my mom spent a lot of time my mom and dad spent a lot of time on the phone with him.

Tayler Holder1:05:03

He was he was older. He was like I want to say like 35 or something at the time.

And he basically was like yeah send you

Tayler Holder1:05:09

like he was I think I was like I think I was 16 or so at the time but same [ __ ] Yeah. Um I didn't live with him. I just went and stayed there for like 2 days 2 or 3 days and he brought me to the studio and like introduced me to these people and like was just helping me.

Tayler Holder1:05:27

I live I didn't move there till I was 18.

Tayler Holder1:05:30

I was just going back and forth.

Tayler Holder1:05:31

And uh and this and this girl we we ended up uh writing and doing a song together and stuff like that that ended up doing like

Tayler Holder1:05:38

No. I was [ __ ] awful, man. I was like I just I played instruments growing up my whole life though.

Tayler Holder1:05:43

I knew music but I didn't know how to write a song or anything like that. I I just played piano, drums, guitar, and I played saxophone in school.

Tayler Holder1:05:57

Yeah. I just loved the idea of of the creative idea of music and this and that. And whenever I was in LA, I I ended up, you know, just from being popular, I I had knew like people from the R&B like pop space and this and that. And I ended up getting in the studio with like people like Jason Derulo and some other guys. And and uh just made some really like shitty songs for a little bit because I just didn't know what I was doing.

You know, my vocals were like pretty [ __ ] too. And I just uh I would literally look up on on YouTube. I' like I'd look up like how do you sing? Like I wouldn't look up like vocal lessons. I would just literally look up how do you sing, man?

Tayler Holder1:06:30

I haven't even taken singing lessons. I did I I took vocal lessons like literally like a year ago for for like two months. Did it help?

I think it does help. Like they're definitely like they're definitely helpful, but uh but also I just like couldn't really afford it. It was kind of expensive.

Tayler Holder1:06:47

Um her name is Raina.

Tayler Holder1:06:49

Um and we uh we're actually not friends anymore. But

Tayler Holder1:06:53

Dude, it's one of those

Uh I was I I I stay like very in the middle. Like not middle now, but like I I I feel like the world's going in a lot of I try to stay politically out of a lot of things cuz I don't know enough

Yeah. about keeping your opinions but I was open about voting for Trump and and they're very anti-Trump and you know 10 years of a friendship with somebody and they uh

Like I'm not here to badmouth anybody but basically they just they they had messaged me and my mom whenever we voted for Trump and and was like you know knowing how we feel um we don't feel comfortable continuing this friendship and and this and that and I I it was it was her mom that sent my mom a text first and and I even sent Raina a text after that and I was like, um, hey, [snorts] I know I know your mom had sent my mom something, but I just want you to know like there's no political standpoint.

Like, it's just like, hey, it's that's like me not liking you cuz I I found out you don't believe in God. Like, not not to hold like Trump to that, but like I'm just saying like there's just differences, you know, difference of opinion and uh, you know, I was like, dude, I I I I've experienced some of the best moments of my life with with you involved in it. And I I'm not going to ever let any type of differences like differentiate that. Like, I love you as a person whether you believe what I believe or not.

I support you. I this, I that. Never responded to me, unfollowed me, everything like that. And and I just haven't talked to her since.

Tayler Holder1:08:13

Come to Nashville. Never been to Nashville. I performed at CMA Fest with her.

Tayler Holder1:08:20

I was staying just in a hotel. I was only supposed to be here one night. I went there, did it, and was supposed to fly [clears throat] back.

I was good friends with a guy named Parker McCollum at the time. And uh and Parker [snorts] uh introduced me to Shay Mooney from Dan and Shay. And uh we went and got lunch uh the day I was performing and stuff like that. And I was like Shay was like you know what do you want to do this that I was like I really want to make music. I want to make country music. This this is what I want to do. And I was like I just don't know how to write songs.

I don't know whatever. He was like well I'd love to write you something. And I ended up like Parker let me stay at his house for like a week dude. And like he he had to go play shows. So I was like just at his house just me and my like photographer that like he didn't know him. He just let us like just stay there for a week. He was like here's all the keys to all my cards.

Tayler Holder1:09:06

And uh and literally like the next day me and Shay got in the studio with a guy named Daniel Ross and and we uh we we ended up writing my song called Drive that I ended up putting out and it was the first song I ever wrote in Nashville. And uh just so much in that week just started happening that like I genuinely like for so long I thought I would never leave LA cuz that's just where my life was. That's where all the money was.

That's where I live.

Tayler Holder1:09:26

I thought that if I leave LA like I'd fall off. I I wouldn't have a career anymore or this or that. And

Long story short, I dude I had this overwhelming sensation from God that was like literally like, you know, you get these things where I was like, "Oh, I think this is where God wants me." And I was like, it was never more clear that like, dude, he's pulling me. He's really trying to pull me out of something that I can't I can't understand right now. And I called my parents. I was like, I'm going back to California and I'm packing up all my stuff and I'm moving to Nashville.

And like within 30 days, I packed up everything and I left LA and I moved to Nashville and it was the best decision I've ever made.

And how'd you end up way out in the country? I wanted to be out there. I grew up. It's like where I grew up, man. Super small town in the middle of nowhere. And um on some property where I could have my dirt bike track. I can have my farm. I can I can get back into roping again. I can I have enough space to put me a little arena. Finally got a horse now. You know what I mean? I got but got a handful of Highland cows, goats, pigs, this that.

Yeah, we

Tayler Holder1:10:18

Yeah. We breed them. We just sold We just sold five to Jake Paul. Did you see where he put them on a jet? That was me. I I

Tayler Holder1:10:27

Uhhuh. Yeah. 6 hours.

Have you been down there? Yep. Yeah.

Tayler Holder1:10:30

It's insane, dude. It's

Tayler Holder1:10:33

Bro, anytime you want, man. And uh

Tayler Holder1:10:40

Yeah, but that's all right, dude. It's cool cuz like all of our animals are super sweet. Like my horse, you can hop on a bear back. Like you can he'll give you all his feet. He'll really he's he's super good, man. And uh he's still young, too. He's eight, you know, and he's they live for a long time.

Tayler Holder1:11:01

You guys Mexican OT.

Tayler Holder1:11:11

Yeah. Yeah. Good thing he signed a waiver at least. You know what I mean? No, dude. Uh OT is a is a good friend of mine. He's uh he It was so funny cuz we were there riding and he he does crazy stuff like he's done the [ __ ] where he got like

Flipped by a bull like where he's like whatever like like well like a clown like he's like trying to dodge him. Yeah. Like and [ __ ] [snorts] tossed him bro like flipped him around in a circle and hit him again. Yeah. He's he's pretty [ __ ] crazy, dude. I actually like he's he's awesome, dude. Like especially for like a bigger dude. Like he's he's very Cindy.

And um we were out there, you know, we're hitting back flips. We're jumping like I have this huge driveway jump. It's like 100 and something feet, you know what I mean? Like, and um he gets on these ebikes and all of a sudden like someone comes up to me, goes, "Yo, yo, OT wants to jump the the freestyle ramp to the airbag." And I was like, "Oh, [ __ ] dude." Like, he should probably jump like anything else besides a freestyle ramp first. Like freestyle ramps are just like a lot more like like peaky, you know what I mean?

Like it's it's hard to it's hard to time it. It's weird. And um especially on an ebike

Tayler Holder1:12:14

Get [ __ ] up. Yeah. And um

Tayler Holder1:12:17

He was like I was like, "You sure you want to?" He was I want to do this, bro. I I have to do this, man. I He was dead set on it, bro. And I was like, "All right." And we're sitting here coaching him. I'm like, you know, I'm like, "Here, watch me go over real quick. We're jumping in. We're this." And then I was like,

"The best way to like do it for your first time is following someone over it because you can gauge their speed." You know what I mean? So that's what we do in moto as well.

And so like [snorts] I was like, "I'm going to go. you just stay right behind me the same speed and just go over it with me, like right behind me one after another.

And he was like, "All right,

That was the first time that you saw where he hit the backside where he was going." And I I get over it and I look back and I just see his head barely above the back smacking and just [ __ ] fall back. I was like, "Oh, fuck." Like didn't give it enough.

And um after he's got no shirt on, he doesn't have any protective gear. He had a helmet.

The guy that's in the like on Broadway in a bar shirtless like that. Like that's just how he is, dude. He's f He's so funny, bro.

Tayler Holder1:13:15

Yeah,

Tayler Holder1:13:19

Yeah. No, dude. He's he's freaking he's so dude, he's funny, dude. And uh he's a true like character, man. And uh he was like, I'm I'm ready to go again. And he like bent the [ __ ] out of the bars on that one. And so the the owner, Travis, for Torque, uh Torque is a is a big ebike sponsor for us that they put on my whole birthday. And dude, like Travis is amazing, bro. Like I had to get you hooked up with him and get you an ebike, dude, cuz he would

Tayler Holder1:14:09

Yeah.

Tayler Holder1:14:24

Yeah, dude. That's That's definely a tough one for sure, man. And I've had like growing up racing motor. Like I've had some buddies that died too from crashing and all that stuff. But the [snorts] good thing with the ebikes obviously like just you just have to be like hard on them to make sure they stay there. But like the ebike like you can put it in mode one and it'll only do like 15 m an hour.

Yeah, dude. I got to get one. I was one because like in mode like in the highest mode it'll do like 70 but but um but I I'll get you one, bro. But they they put it on and they basically like bent the bars and he was like [ __ ] it. Give him another one. We had like we had like six of them out there.

Tayler Holder1:14:56

Fully electric. Yeah.

But it's like a real dirt bike. Uh it's like a like a they're they're like a little smaller than like 250s. It's kind of like sirons. Like I don't know if you heard of like sirons and stuff. And they give them another one and we're like

Okay that's like the worst thing that's going to happen pretty much. Like if anything you just land on the bounce house like after that like it's whatever you just got to give it more gas. And um and anyways I was like you want to follow me up again? Da da da da. And like long story short he sat there and then just like went by himself. And that's the second one where like

He like sat down up it and just like right when he went up he went way definitely fast enough to hit it this time but just jumped and went straight up in the air and just dipped on the bike and he landed fine down the side of it but the foot peg normally put tennis balls on the foot pegs because like I just wasn't thinking about it but

Just ripped the entire airbag all the way down it broam and these airbags are like six grand dude and like I was like hol [snorts] [ __ ] cuz I was about to do my back flip after that too I back flip to it and uh

Tayler Holder1:15:55

Dude, it's like and like it was just it was dunzos. Dude, we're trying to find some people. There are some people that can come out and like stitch it up.

Tayler Holder1:16:02

Dude, it's like you have to like dude it's because they're so strong like you have to and like the bikes are landing on it and pulling it. Like you have to have some like really strong [ __ ] that'll like

Tayler Holder1:17:02

100%. That's why I have this guy that's going to come out look. But it's like a It's like a 8ft rip. Like it's like a 8 foot like

Tayler Holder1:17:11

Yeah. And dude, it was just it was a it was a great day though. He he ended up like that was obviously the end of the road for the airbag, but uh um for the rest of the day, but it was it was fire. It was a good birthday.

Tayler Holder1:17:27

N man, honestly, no, dude. I'm just uh I uh I had a really good year last year and um you know, I was able to like obviously pay pay the bills fine and and stuff like that, but dude, being an independent artist, this stuff's expensive, man. Like I I really, dude, I I don't have a manager. I don't have I have a I have a booking agent as far as like I'm with Wasman or the team now. They're called the team. And um they they've been amazing.

They book us a lot of shows, but they're they're not specialty. Their their specialy isn't digital, you know what I mean?

Um I do I have no management, no no nothing, dude. I I don't have anything, dude, as far or a digital agent. And so

Financially, nah, man. I'm [ __ ] kind of like not doing too hot at the moment. But uh I it all goes into my music, man. It all goes

With our main man Aaron Kaiser who manages Brantley Gilbert.

Tayler Holder1:18:15

But he is one of the most sol like whether we work together or not, man. That's a guy that I'm going to probably I'm going to have around in my life for probably forever.

Tayler Holder1:18:29

I've always known him just through Brantley and stuff like that. uh this charity golf tournament yesterday uh together and we were on the same team and got a lot more vibe, you know, and he's like

Very similar to me like you know what I mean? And and those are the type of people I want to work with, man. And those are the type of people that I feel like will champion and and like favor like and actually like enjoy working with you, you know what I mean? Not just see you as some like

Money dollar sign thing or whatever and like try to like morph you into who you think you should be. like this guy is like I I really really respect Aaron.

Tayler Holder1:19:09

We got a uh we got an EP that we're working on right now. Um I took a I took a little bit of a break for for a few months this year. I just been battling Man. I've been battling a lot of mental health stuff, dude. I've I've been in a long battle of it since all those those years, man. I' I feel like I just like I've never spoke to anybody, never talked to a therapist, never talked to anything through any of that [ __ ] that I went through.

And I've [snorts] always just been head down. And ever since I started the whole internet thing when I was 15, man, I don't I don't think I've taken more than a week off since then. Like since I was 15 years old.

Tayler Holder1:19:37

Like if I go on vacations, I'm filming and working and and filming it. Like it's not like I'm like really like just disconnected and and and like experiencing it. You know what I mean? And uh and [snorts] I took like two two hard months off of like I took a month off of just no posting at all. Zero posting at all. And it was the best it was the best thing I've ever done, man. Um I was just struggling. Cancelled all my shows. I was supposed to go on on tour with Jelly Roll.

Canceled that. Supposed to play CMA Fest, cancelled that.

And um you know, I obviously I needed that money bad, too. I need I needed that. I needed the exposure. I needed to keep my name in in front of people. But it was like

Riskto-reward here, you know, man. I was I was so [ __ ] sad, bro. I couldn't figure it out, man. I was just going through it. And um but uh we're in a really good spot right now.

Tayler Holder1:20:21

I think uh I got, you know, I got I got put in contact with a really good life coach. Um, I got put in contact, you know, like one someone that's been really really awesome to me is a a guy named Brandon Lake. Um, you know, Brandon Lake, he actually literally just texted me yesterday morning and out of nowhere, I haven't talked to him in a couple weeks or whatever. And and was literally like, man, like it it honestly like opened my eyes, man. And those are the types of things that I needed, man.

I just needed really good people rooting for me and leading me. I had a I had people living in my house as well that were just like, you know, I was funding the whole house. It was just like getting [ __ ] on. It was like no one was like really appreciating like or helping me scale what I was doing. It was just kind of mooching. It was this, it was that, you know. And

Tayler Holder1:21:02

Yeah. No, man. And uh Brandon has been a a very very big inspiration. He just shot me a message literally yesterday and was like, I don't know why, but it's 11:00 at night right now and I can't fall asleep and I feel like I'm so like God is shoving me so hard to send this text to you right now. You've been heavy on my heart, but like go like dive 100% into God right now, man. this moment that like I don't know why I felt entitled to tell you this or felt like the need to tell you this, but like

It was it was it was a really awesome text, man. And those are the types of things and people I need in my life right now cuz I'm in a very pivotal moment in my life that I'm I'm not really understanding either. So,

But um we got a we got a lot of music coming out, man. We got we got a song with with Mexican OT actually that we just did that I'm excited to tease. And

Tayler Holder1:21:43

He's a rapper.

Tayler Holder1:21:44

Yeah. He's he's he's fire, dude. It's it's it's like it's like he's a he's a Mexican rapper, so he's like he's got that like roll on his ars and [ __ ] Like he's got some cool stuff, man. But he's done some stuff like Big X the plug. Like he's done some stuff with like he's a he's a pretty big rapper in the Texas scene as well. So both of us being from Texas, we like of course we got to do some stuff together. So we got that.

We got a lot of new music that I've been working on. Um we got another uh another female feature that I don't I don't know if I can say yet, but uh it's she's amazingly talented and I look forward to doing that as well. So, just getting this EP going, getting getting back on track to to hit 2027 and and in the best way possible. And hopefully hopefully that's the year, you know.

Tayler Holder1:22:23

I love it, man. I love it so much. I hate that it I hate that it costs so much and I'm independent [clears throat] because it's it's definitely like sometimes where I I'm, you know, it's expensive to record a song. It's like five grand a song.

Tayler Holder1:22:50

100% 100%. And that's why I'm I'm not mad at it at all but there's sometimes where like whenever a lot of [ __ ] ain't going right in my life and I'm not getting you know I don't have a team finding brand deals or searching for those things. It's like it kind of almost makes it impossible for me to like keep a roof over my head or pay for the next song or whatever because I physically can't. You know what I mean?

Tayler Holder1:23:16

Aaron has talked to me about them and and we've we've been uh we've been put into contact and stuff like that. So, I'm I'm I'm hoping some some stuff can come from there as well. I love First Form. I've heard a lot of great things about them. I've used some of their stuff already just through other friends that just use it organically already as I think their stuff is very very dope. And the guys, I met them at Brantley's uh album release party with the Nitro Circus stuff.

Tayler Holder1:23:42

It was really cool, man. They they were like back flipping over the stage and

Tayler Holder1:23:45

Like that. Uh but I met I met some of the first form guys there and like just same thing. Like dude, those guys are all like really solid dudes. Like I hate when like

I hate when I meet people that are like super like corporate like you know what I mean? like where they're like super professional cuz I'm like this like no one's really this professional, you know what I mean? It's like and [ __ ] just ain't that deep. And whenever like you can meet some really cool guys, that's why I [ __ ] with Aaron so much is because you know managers are like

This this and this and he's like

Nah, bro. It's like you know what I mean? It's just it's real.

Tayler Holder1:24:46

Yeah,

Tayler Holder1:25:57

Yeah, absolutely, man.

Tayler Holder1:26:14

Absolutely, bro. We got We shoot We shoot clays right off my back porch. I got like this porch like my I live on a hill, so like my my balcony is like 20 feet up in the air off the back of my house and we just throw clays off of that and shoot it. We got targets down there as well.

Tayler Holder1:26:28

Bring anything you want, bro. We can we can handle all of it out there. So,

Tayler Holder1:26:33

We'll put freaking some tannerite out there and blow some [ __ ] up, too. So,

Tayler Holder1:26:38

Let's do this again sometime, dude.

Tayler Holder1:26:43

Like and subscribe, baby. We'll see you next time.