Rapper Silentó sentenced to 30 years in prison for killing his cousin

Atlanta rapper Silentó entered a plea of guilty but mentally ill on Thursday to charges that he killed his cousin in 2021. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his crimes, according to a statement from DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston.

Legally named Ricky Lamar Hawk, the artist is best known for his 2015 track “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),” which became a viral sensation.

He had been charged with voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, and concealing the death of another in the death of Frederick Rooks III, his 34-year-old cousin. The charge of voluntary manslaughter replaced murder as part of the plea, according to the Associated Press.

Police officers answered a call at about 3:37 a.m. reporting that a man revealed to be Rooks had been shot. By the time emergency services reached him, he had died from multiple gunshot wounds.

A family member of Rooks later said he had last been seen with Hawk, who had picked him up in a white BMW SUV, the same type of vehicle seen fleeing the scene. 

He was arrested Feb. 1, 2021, and admitted to shooting the victim about 10 days later, officials said. Ballistics testing confirmed that the bullet casings at the scene matched a gun found with Hawk at the time he was taken in.

In court, presided over by DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Courtney L. Johnson, Rooks’ siblings said they thought the rapper should have faced a harsher sentence.

“We just want justice,” Rooks’ brother told the judge.

After coming to fame with his global hit — which has 1.9 billion views on YouTube — Hawk appeared on TV’s The Doctors in May 2019 and explained that he struggled with his mental health. He described a difficult childhood that included having been born with marijuana, cocaine, and heroin in his system, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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“I’ve been fighting demons my whole life. My whole life,” Hawk said on the show. “I saw family members talking to walls. I watched family members fight. I watched family members try to kill each other. Nobody should have to watch that.”

In 2021, his publicist, Chanel Hudson, told the newspaper that the rapper had attempted suicide the year before.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or text Crisis Text Line at 741741.