Silentó, the rapper known for his viral hit ‘Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)’, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter.
The charges relate to the shooting death of Frederick Rooks in January 2021, the rapper’s cousin. Silentó – real name Richard Lamar Hawk – pleaded guilty but mentally ill to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, having originally been charged with malice murder.
Hawk also pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and concealing the death of another. The murder charge was dropped as part of Hawk’s plea deal.
Rooks’ body was found abandoned on a road outside a home near Panthersville, Georgia, close to Atlanta on January 21, 2021, and Hawk was originally arrested by DeKalb County Police Department in Georgia in February in connection with the killing.
Silentó’s breakout hit was ‘Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)’ in 2015, which was a social media-driven hit that came to dominance on the video-sharing app Vine. The track popularised two separate dance crazes, the ‘whip’ and the ‘nae nae’, and also cited other dances such as ‘Crank That’ and ‘Stanky Legg’.
The song went on to reach Number Three on the Billboard Hot 100 and currently sits on 1.9billion views on YouTube.
He has not been able to follow-up the success of the song, but he has gone on to release four solo mixtapes: ‘Fresh Outta High School’ (2018), ‘Fresh Outta High School 2’ (2018), ‘Skyrolyrics’ (2020) and ‘Bars Behind Bars’ (2021).
The rapper has reputedly suffered from mental health issues in recent years, including depression and anxiety, with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporting that he attempted to take his own life in 2020.
He had also been arrested multiple times before the charges related to Rooks’ killing, including racking up domestic violence charges.
