Latest news with #FrederickRooksIII
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'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. 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, DeKalb County Dist. Atty. Sherry Boston said in a statement. Read more: 'Whip/Nae Nae' rapper charged in attempted hatchet attack 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 said. Emergency medical workers pronounced him dead at the scene, the statement said. Video and GPS evidence tied Hawk to the crime, Boston said. A relative of Rooks told 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." In 2016, Hawk was nominated under his stage name for the BET Awards' YoungStars Award along with Amandla Stenberg, Quvenzhané Wallis, Willow Smith and Yara Shahidi. The honor went to Stenberg, the actor famous for playing Rue in the movie "The Hunger Games." Read more: The strange history behind Brian Wilson's lost rap song 'Smart Girls' Hawk went on the syndicated show "The Doctors" in 2019 wearing a sparkling, Michael Jackson-style jacket and talked about how he was born with "all type of drugs" in his system and had felt depressed his whole life. He moved in with a great aunt in 2014, he said, and was prescribed ADHD medication without an ADHD diagnosis. Viral fame came a few years later. "Depression doesn't leave you when you become famous," Hawk said on the show, which positioned him as a brave inspiration to his peers with mental illness. "It just adds more pressure. And while everybody's looking at you, they're also judging you." Things took a dark turn next, however, with Hawk getting arrested in Southern California in late summer 2020 on domestic violence allegations of inflicting corporal punishment on a spouse or cohabitant in Santa Ana. Then, while out on bail for that incident the first week of September 2020, he was arrested again in Los Angeles and charged with two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon (not a firearm) after he allegedly entered the Valley Village home of two strangers and threatened them with a hatchet. Read more: Former MTV VJ Ananda Lewis dies after battle with breast cancer As of Thursday that case was still ongoing in Los Angeles County Superior Court with the next hearing scheduled for September. The assistant district attorney handling that case did not reply immediately to The Times' request for an update. 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. "Remember when at one point this was playing in every single car around the world," one commenter said four years ago. It was unclear whether that was posted before or after Rooks was killed. Get notified when the biggest stories in Hollywood, culture and entertainment go live. Sign up for L.A. Times entertainment alerts. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
News24
12-06-2025
- News24
‘Whip/Nae Nae' star Silentó‘s 30-year sentence: Rapper pleads guilty to cousin's murder
US rapper Silentó, who earned international fame for his debut single Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae), has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for killing his cousin in January 2021. The 27-year-old musician, real name Richard Hawk, pleaded guilty, but mentally ill, to voluntary manslaughter after shooting and killing his 34-year-old cousin, Frederick Rooks III. The Atlanta rapper also pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during a felony crime and concealing the death of his cousin, according to People. Officers from the DeKalb County Police Department found Rooks at an intersection suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Silentó admitted to the shooting in 2021 after being taken into custody. At the time, Chanel Hudson, his PR manager, released a statement mentioning the rapper's mental health struggles, per Fox 5 Atlanta. 'Please send my client Silentó some positive vibrations. Over the past several years, Ricky has been suffering immensely from a series of mental health illnesses,' Hudson said. 'We will continue in his efforts of treatment, but we ask, in the meantime, the public uplift him and his family in immediate prayer and positive energy,' Hudson continued. 'Ricky is a beautiful soul, and we hope that the same people who came up whipping' & nae nae-in with him continue to support him.'
Indian Express
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Billboard rapper Silentó sentenced to 30 years in prison for killing his cousin; know who he is
Atlanta rapper Silentó, who rose to fame with his viral 2015 hit 'Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)', has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for the killing of his cousin, Frederick Rooks III. The tragic incident unfolded on January 21, 2021, when Rooks was found shot multiple times outside a house near Decatur, Georgia. Investigators recovered 10 shell casings at the scene, and security camera footage later showed Silentó speeding away in a white BMW SUV. He was arrested weeks later in DeKalb County and charged with murder. Silentó, most known for his song/dance 'Watch Me (Whip / Nae Nae)', has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for killing his cousin. — Pop Base (@PopBase) June 11, 2025 According to Silentó's publicist, Chanel Hudson, he had been battling serious mental health struggles leading up to the crime. She previously revealed that the rapper had attempted to take his own life in 2020, describing the period before his arrest as a downward spiral. This week, Silentó entered a plea of guilty but mentally ill to charges including voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, firearm possession during the commission of a crime, and concealing a death. A US court handed him a 30-year prison sentence for the killing, bringing a devastating chapter to a once-promising career to an end. Silentó, whose real name is Richard Lamar 'Ricky' Hawk, shot to fame in 2015 thanks to his viral hit 'Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)'. The track did not just dominate the Billboard charts–it set off a full-blown dance phenomenon around the world. The song's catchy hook and easy-to-learn moves turned it into a social media staple, with millions recreating the dance on platforms like YouTube and Vine. It even climbed to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. After that meteoric rise, Silentó tried to build on his success. He teamed up with Punch in 2016 for a collaboration that won the World Collaboration Award at the Seoul Music Awards. That same year, he hit the road with Let's Dance: The Tour, riding the wave of his breakout moment. But his career soon unravelled amid mounting legal troubles. In 2017, a dispute over a contract left him stuck in the UAE, unable to leave the country for a time. Things only got worse by 2020, with a string of arrests ranging from domestic violence to assault with a deadly weapon and reckless driving—marking a steep fall for the artist who once got the world to 'watch me whip, watch me nae nae'.
Time of India
12-06-2025
- Time of India
'Whip/Nae Nae' Rapper Silento Gets 30 Years For Cousin's Murder
/ Jun 12, 2025, 12:59PM IST Silento, the rapper behind the viral hit "Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)," has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for killing his cousin, Frederick Rooks III, in 2021. The 27-year-old entered a guilty plea but claimed mental illness at the time of the crime. Rooks was found shot multiple times in the early hours of January 21 in DeKalb County, Georgia. Police recovered ten shell casings at the scene, and a white BMW SUV was seen fleeing moments after. Investigators later confirmed the vehicle belonged to Silento, real name Ricky Hawk. Surveillance footage, GPS tracking, and ballistic evidence all linked him to the killing. The murder weapon was found with Hawk at the time of his arrest.
New York Times
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
The Rapper Silentó Gets 30 Years in Prison for Fatal Shooting of His Cousin
Silentó, the rapper known for his viral hit 'Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),' was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Wednesday after pleading guilty to charges related to the fatal shooting of his cousin. The rapper, whose real name is Ricky Lamar Hawk, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, possessing a firearm while committing a crime and concealing the death of another, District Attorney Sherry Boston of DeKalb County said in a statement. Mr. Hawk, 27, was arrested in connection with the shooting of his cousin, Frederick Rooks III, 34, in the early hours of Jan. 21, 2021, after the police found him bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds in a residential neighborhood in Decatur, Ga., seven miles northeast of Atlanta, according to a police report. Emergency workers pronounced him dead on the scene. Several people nearby heard gunshots, and security footage from doorbell cameras showed a white BMW S.U.V. fleeing the scene a few minutes after the gunfire, according to the district attorney's office. A relative of Mr. Rooks told officers that he was last seen with Mr. Hawk, who had picked him up in a vehicle that matched the description. After he was taken into custody on Feb. 1, 2021, Mr. Hawk told investigators that he had shot Mr. Rooks, according to the district attorney's office. Mr. Hawk initially faced a murder charge, which was dropped as part of the plea agreement on Wednesday. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On the day of his arrest, Mr. Hawk's publicist at the time said that he had been 'suffering immensely from a series of mental health illnesses' in recent years. Mr. Hawk became famous in 2015 while he was still in high school through his single, 'Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),' which started a social media dance craze. Tutorial videos have millions of views, and the official music video has been watched about 1.9 billion times on YouTube. In 2019, Mr. Hawk went on the interview show 'The Doctors' and described his struggles with depression. 'Depression doesn't leave you when you become famous,' he said. 'It just adds more pressure.' 'I don't know if I can truly be happy,' he added on the show. 'I don't know if these demons will ever go away.' With a plea of guilty but mentally ill, the state's Department of Corrections is responsible for evaluating and treating Mr. Hawk's mental health needs, according to Georgia law.
