Rapper Silentó — best known for his hit song “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” — has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for killing his cousin.
Silentó, real name Ricky Lamar Hawk, pleaded guilty but mentally ill on Wednesday, June 12, in DeKalb County, Georgia, on charges related to the 2021 fatal shooting of his cousin, Frederick Rooks, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Rooks was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds at a home in Panthersville, Georgia, on January 21, 2021. He was 34.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Silentó, 27, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter as part of a plea deal. He also pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and concealing a death of another. A felony murder charge was dropped, said the outlet.
Silentó was originally charged with malice murder upon his arrest in February 2021. “Today, Ricky Hawk, 23, was arrested for the murder of his cousin Frederick Rooks, 34. On January 21, the DeKalb County Police Department investigated Rooks’ death after he was found shot on Deep Shoals Circle. Hawk is in the DeKalb County Jail charged with Murder,” the DeKalb County Police Department said in a statement via X at the time.
The rapper’s sentence will include credit for time served since his initial arrest in February 2021.
Following his arrest, Silentó’s publicist at the time, Chanel Hudson, shared via social media that the rapper had been dealing with mental health issues.
“Please send my client Silento some positive vibrations,” Hudson said, per Complex. “Over the past several years, Ricky has been suffering immensely from a series of mental illnesses. We will continue in his efforts of treatment, but we ask in the meantime the public uplift him and his family in immediate prayer & positive energy!! Ricky is a beautiful soul, and we hope that the same people who came up whippin’ and nay naying with him, continue to support him and lifted in prayer. God bless.”
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Silentó had numerous run-ins with the law in the months leading up to his February 2021 arrest. In August 2020, he was arrested twice on domestic violence and assault with a deadly weapon charges in California. In October that year, he was arrested for speeding in DeKalb County. (It’s not clear what became of these charges.)
The Georgia native rose to fame in 2015 with the song “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),” the video for which has amassed over 1.9 billion views on YouTube. The track also reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.