Atlanta rapper Silento, recognized for his 2015 chart-topper “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),” has been sentenced to 30 years in jail after pleading responsible to taking pictures his cousin useless in 2021.
Silento (Ricky Lamar Hawk) had been scheduled to face trial this week over the death of his cousin Frederick Rooks. As an alternative, the 27-year-old rapper took a plea deal on Wednesday (June 11).
The rapper pleaded responsible to voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, gun possession and concealing a dying however mentioned he was mentally sick when the crimes have been dedicated. The manslaughter cost was downgraded from a harsher malice homicide depend in his indictment, whereas Georgia prosecutors agreed to drop one other felony homicide cost.
DeKalb County Superior Courtroom Decide Courtney Johnson sentenced Silento to 30 years in jail following the plea. He’ll get credit score for the 4 years he’s spent in jail since his 2021 arrest.
Prosecutors declare Silento shot his 34-year-old cousin Rooks a number of instances in February 2021 after which fled the scene. Silento allegedly admitted to killing Rooks throughout a post-arrest interview with investigators, and prosecutors say bullet casings recovered from the scene matched a gun discovered on the rapper when he was apprehended.
A rep for Silento mentioned when he was arrested in 2021 that the rapper had been “struggling immensely from a collection of psychological well being sicknesses.” He was identified with extreme bipolar dysfunction in jail, based on courtroom filings.
Silento’s lawyer didn’t return a request for touch upon the responsible plea and sentence on Wednesday.
“Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” spawned a viral dance craze in 2015 and spent 51 weeks on the Billboard Sizzling 100, peaking at No. 3. In 2019, Billboard named the observe one of many 100 Songs That Defined the Decade.
Silento confronted various legal troubles after the success of “Watch Me.” In 2017, he was held in the United Arab Emirates over a enterprise dispute with an area live performance promoter, after which a courtroom ordered him to pay 300,000 dirhams ($81,500) for failing to play two scheduled reveals in Al Ain and Abu Dhabi.
In 2020, Silento was arrested twice in two days in California for home violence and for strolling right into a stranger’s house holding a hatchet. Later the identical 12 months, he was arrested once more for driving 143 mph on Interstate 85 in Georgia.