Rapper Silentó Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Cousin’s Shooting Death

The rapper Silentó, who scored a major hit with his 2015 single “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)”  — and the two dance crazes it combined — has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for charges related to the shooting death of his cousin, Frederick Rooks. Per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, on Wednesday, June 11, Silentó, born Ricky Lamar Hawk, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to voluntary manslaughter stemming from the January 2021 killing. Police found Rooks’ body abandoned on a road outside a home near the Atlanta-area community of Panthersville.

Though Hawk was originally charged with malice murder, a felony murder charge was dropped as a part of his plea deal. Hawk also pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a

felony and concealing the death of another.

While Rooks’ siblings reportedly were underwhelmed with the sentence at the hearing, another expressed mutual sympathy. “I’m sorry for both sides,” they told DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Courtney L. Johnson, according to the AJC. 

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Hawk was a teenager when “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” took the internet and world by storm. It became popular on the now defunct micro-video app Vine, a predecessor of sorts to TikTok. The song hit Number Three on the Billboard Hot 100 and its music video has earned nearly 2 billion YouTube streams. 

However, over the years, Hawk and a representative have attested to the rapper’s mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, and childhood trauma. In 2021, former publicist Chanel Hudson told the AJC that the rapper had attempted suicide the year prior. Later, he faced multiple arrests, including two in California for domestic violence and gun charges.