‘Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)’ rapper Silentó gets 30 years for manslaughter of cousin

Silentó, the Atlanta rapper best known for the viral 2015 hit “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),” was sentenced to 30 years in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty but mentally ill in the 2021 shooting death of his cousin in Georgia.

DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston says the rapper, real name Ricky Lamar Hawk, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter of his cousin, Frederick Rooks III, in addition to aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during commission of a crime and concealing a death.

Hawk, 27, confessed to the killing when police took him into custody about 10 days after Rooks, 34, was found in the wee hours on Jan. 21, 2021, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

Boston says video and GPS evidence tied Hawk to the crime, with a relative of Rooks telling authorities that the victim had last been seen with Hawk.

The day Hawk was arrested, his then-publicist Chanel Hudson posted a note asking for prayers for her client and explaining that in recent years he had “been suffering immensely from a series of mental health illnesses” and would continue his “efforts of treatment.”

Also Thursday, nine years after it dropped, Silentó’s music video for “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” was in the neighborhood of 2 billion views on YouTube.

Source: latimes.com