A rapper getting hit with a murder charge isn’t anything new.
But being accused of killing a close family member is wild, even in rap.
Silento, the rapper who created the Whip and Nae Nae dance,
as well as the single to go along with it, has recently been arrested and charged
with the recent shooting and death of his cousin Frederick Rooks.
Let’s take a look at this crazy story.
New tonight, an Atlanta rapper
who rose to fame with a one hit wonder is now charged
with murdering his cousin.
Dekalb county police arrested Ricky Hawk today
you might know him by his stage name Silento
He's accused of shooting his cousin to death last month
Silento is a rapper from Stone Mountain, Georgia
who is best known for his viral hit and dance craze Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae).
He started making music as a teenager and surprisingly
his first song was also his best-known hit.
Watch Me was produced by Bolo the Producer and released on Soundcloud in 2015.
It quickly racked up 100,000 streams in a few weeks
and attracted the attention of an A&R from Capitol Records who signed him to a deal.
The label helped him shoot a music video, which was released in June 2015
and quickly racked up over 2.5 million views the first week it was released.
The video was directed by Marc Klansfeld
and shows Silento performing his famous dances in a high school gymnasium,
along with some cheerleaders and old women.
It even features guest appearances from rapper Lil Scrappy and the pop-rap duo
Rich White Ladies.
The video was an instant hit and propelled the song’s popularity even further.
It ended up peaking at #3 on the Billboard charts, all while the rapper was still in high school.
But he would not release his debut album Fresh Outta High School until 2018,
but none of the tracks on that album would live up to the wild success of his first single.
After that, things would start to go downhill for Silento.
In 2017 he was briefly banned from leaving the UAE after getting into a dispute with a promoter.
The promoter claimed that he failed to perform at two separate shows,
but that was eventually cleared up and he was able to return to the US.
Then, in an episode of the talk show The Doctors, Silento opened up about his battles with depression.
He said that he had battled mental illness his entire life, even prior to becoming famous.
He says he was born with all types of drugs in his system, including weed, pills, coke,
and heroin and witnessed family members fight and try to kill each other growing up.
I've been fighting demons my whole life.
My whole life.
I was born with weed, coke heroine, pills all types of drugs in my system
I saw family members talk to the wall
I've watched family members fight I've watched family members try to kill eachother
Nobody should have to watch that.
When he was only 14,
he moved in with his great aunt and had to go to a school where he had no friends.
He almost got in 5 fights, and was prescribed ADHD meds and sleeping pills.
I was given ADHD for meds
sleeping pills,
I was getting skinny, I was getting stressed
I was never officially diagnosed with ADHA
but I still had to take these drugs
Then at some point, he said he ended up getting arrested and sent to a juvenile facility.
Then he blew up with Watch Me but was still battling depression
which still affects him to this day.
Despite coming clean about his struggles, Silento would continue in a downward spiral.
In August 2020,
he would be arrested and charged with inflicting corporal punishment on a spouse
following a domestic abuse incident with his girlfriend.
He was brought to LA County jail but was released the same day.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the next day he would be arrested again
and charged with assault with a deadly weapon while he was out on bail.
22-year-old rapper Silento who real name is Richard Lamar Hawk
is now facing charges of assault with a deadly weapon.
According to the victims,
Silento walked into their home in the Valley Village area of Los Angeles
looking for his girlfriend wielding a hatchet.
Thankfully, the people inside the home managed to detain and disarm Silento
before he seriously hurt anyone.
He was brought back to the county jail and held on a $105,000 bond
but was later released.
While his charges were still pending, he would be arrested again
- this time for speeding at over 143 mph on Interstate 85.
Rapper Silento was arrested this weekend
for going 143 mile-per-hour on I85
Police pulled over the rapper whose real name is Ricky Lamar Hawk
On 85 south just before the Claremont Road exit on Friday
Police pulled him over around 3 am,
after a cop noticed his white BMW swerving around other cars.
The police report states that the rapper tried to argue with the cops
and claim that he did nothing wrong.
He told the officer that he had to speed because he always gets followed
after leaving events and was just at a club where he was promoting his new song.
He even told the officer that he could drive 143 mph because he’s “not a regular person”.
I'm trying to figure out why your going 143
Because I get followed everywhere I go
But that gives you no right to be doing 143
If there's like 10 cars following me
I can do 143 because I'm not a regular person
The police obviously didn’t feel the same way and arrested him for reckless driving,
speeding, failure to maintain lane, and improper stopping.
You all are under arrest for-
for ah, reckless driving.
For reckless driving?
Yeah you're doing 143.
That's crazy.
He was released on bail later that night.
Unfortunately, Silento’s music career wasn’t looking great either.
He dropped Straight Outta High School 2 in December 2018
even though by that point he was almost 21 years old and well out of high school.
He would drop the project Skyrolyrics in 2020,
but no tracks on either of those projects came close to the viral success of Watch Me.
In 2020 some very strange and private photos of the rapper leaked onto the internet,
leading to several memes and questions about his mental state.
Not long after that he started asking his Instagram followers to send him money
via Cashapp for “selfies, videos, and shoutouts,
leading many to believe he was also struggling financially.
But, Silento’s legal problems were just getting started and in February 2021,
the rapper was arrested for the murder of 34-year-old Frederick Rooks -
the rapper’s blood cousin.
Rapper Silento has been indicted into Dekalb county for the murder of his cousin
Brooks was shot and killed in front of his own home in Georgia following an altercation.
After police analyzed nearby security footage, they identified none other than Richard Hawk
– aka Silento – as the shooter.
They analyzed the Ring video doorbell footage of several homes in the area,
which showed several cars fleeing the scene after the shooting
and captured one of the fatal shots.
Based on his recent criminal history,
the judge denied Silento bail and he’s been incarcerated ever since.
Atlanta rapper Silento face Dekalb county judge for the first time this afternoon
on felony murder charges his real name is Ricky Hawk,
He's accusing of shooting his cousin last month on Deep Shults Circle
Hawk is known for his hit song Watch Me Whip.
He's being held tonight without bond.
They claim that because of his recent antics, he may be a danger to the community.
His lawyers argued that he has also done a lot of charity work and positive things for his community,
including a video encouraging kids
to take the National Educational Assessment of Educational Progress Exam,
as well as an anti-vaping campaign targeted at high schoolers.
But this wasn’t enough to persuade the judge and he was denied bail.
At this time, the motives behind the attack are completely unknown.
By the rapper’s own admission,
he’s been suffering from mental health problems for a long time.
Maybe he just snapped and took his anger out on an unsuspecting family member.
Or maybe they had some kind of falling out and the rapper had had enough.
Just recently, the Silento was officially indicted on 4 felony charges
including one count of malice murder, one count of felony murder,
aggravated assault, and gun possession during the commission of a robbery.
So, it sounds like maybe he fell on some hard times financially,
tried to rob a family member, and ended up killing him in the process.
It seems like Silento suffered from the one-hit wonder syndrome and never recovered.
When your first ever song is a major success that makes you a huge name in the industry,
it can be hard to follow that up.
Silento was only 17 years old when he made Watch Me and it literally blew up overnight.
The video currently has 1.8 billion views
and is in the top 80 all-time most viewed videos on YouTube
and the 2nd most-watched video on Vimeo.
But with all the quick success also comes a lot of pressure.
When you add that to the fact that he was struggling with mental health problems
that he claims have never been properly diagnosed, it’s a recipe for disaster.
After he was arrested his publicist put out a heartfelt post on Instagram about her client.
She wrote
“Please send my client Silento some positive vibrations.
Over the past several years, Ricky has been suffering immensely
from a series of mental health illnesses.
We will continue in his efforts of treatment,
but we ask in the meantime
the public uplifts him and his family in immediate prayers & positive energy!!
Ricky is a beautiful soul
and we hope that the same people who came up whippin’ and nay naying with him,
continue to support him and lifted in prayer!!”
Other than that, neither Silento nor the rest of his team
have issued any statements about the murder or the arrest.
He is still being held in Dekalb County Jail awaiting trial.
It’s hard to imagine what could have driven him to the point of murdering his own cousin.
But then again, you never know the kind of relationship they had,
or what kind of a mental state he was in at the time of the shooting.
It’s a tragic situation either way,
Silento is a talented kid with a knack for viral marketing,
but now it looks like he’s going to be spending the next few years behind bars.
More information about this wild murder will likely come to light as the case progresses,
so stay tuned for updates.
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