DECATUR, Ga. (BN24) — Atlanta rapper Silentó, best known for his 2015 viral hit “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),” was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty but mentally ill to voluntary manslaughter and multiple related charges in the fatal shooting of his cousin in 2021.
Silentó, whose legal name is Ricky Lamar Hawk, 27, entered his plea in DeKalb County Superior Court, admitting to killing 34-year-old Frederick Rooks III. In addition to manslaughter, Hawk pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and concealing the death of another. A murder charge was dismissed as part of a negotiated plea agreement, according to DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston.
Rooks was found shot in the face and leg outside a home near Decatur, Georgia, in the early morning hours of Jan. 21, 2021. Officers recovered 10 shell casings at the scene, and nearby surveillance footage captured a white BMW SUV speeding away following the gunfire. Investigators tied the vehicle to Hawk through family members, GPS data, and additional camera footage.
Silentó confessed to the shooting roughly 10 days after his arrest, authorities said. Ballistic testing confirmed the shell casings matched a firearm found in Hawk’s possession at the time of his arrest.
During the sentencing hearing, Rooks’ siblings addressed Judge Courtney L. Johnson and argued that Hawk should have received a longer prison term. The case marked a tragic turning point for the rapper, who had risen to fame as a teenager but later became entangled in a string of legal and personal troubles.
Hawk’s attorneys presented his long history of mental health issues in court, which factored into the “guilty but mentally ill” plea designation. In a 2019 interview on the syndicated medical talk show The Doctors, Hawk spoke candidly about his battles with depression and the mental illness he witnessed growing up.
“I’ve been fighting demons my whole life,” he said. “Depression doesn’t leave you when you become famous — it just adds more pressure.”
Hawk added that while fame brought attention, it also brought harsh public scrutiny. “I don’t know if I can truly be happy,” he said. “I don’t know if these demons will ever go away.”
His publicist, Chanel Hudson, said after his arrest that Hawk had been “suffering immensely from a series of mental health illnesses,” and revealed that he had attempted suicide in 2020.
In the months leading up to the fatal shooting, Hawk had several high-profile arrests. In August 2020, he was arrested in Santa Ana, California, on domestic violence charges. A day later, Los Angeles police charged him with assault with a deadly weapon after he reportedly entered a stranger’s home searching for his girlfriend and swung a hatchet at two individuals before being disarmed.
Later that year, in October 2020, Hawk was arrested again after DeKalb County police said he was clocked driving at 143 mph on Interstate 85.
Silentó became a household name in 2015 when his debut single “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” sparked an international dance craze and earned hundreds of millions of views on YouTube. At the time, he was still a high school student in suburban Atlanta. Although he released additional music, his career gradually faded amid his growing mental health and legal struggles.
With Wednesday’s sentence, Hawk faces decades in state custody, closing the chapter on a career that once symbolized viral success but ultimately unraveled under the weight of personal and psychological turmoil.
