Silento (real name: Ricky Hawk) — the Atlanta rapper behind the top five Billboard Hot 100 hit “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” that spawned a viral dance craze back in 2015 — has been arrested for the murder of his cousin, according to DeKalb County Police.
“Today, Ricky Hawk, 23, was arrested for the murder of his cousin Frederick Rooks, 34,” Georgia’s DeKalb County Police Department tweeted on Monday (Feb. 1). “On January 21, the DeKalb County Police Department investigated Rooks’ death after he was found shot on Deep Shoals Circle. Hawk is in the DeKalb County Jail charged with Murder.”
Today, Ricky Hawk, 23, was arrested for the murder of his cousin Frederick Rooks, 34. On January 21, the DeKalb County Police Department investigated Rooks’ death after he was found shot on Deep Shoals Circle. Hawk is in the DeKalb County Jail charged with Murder. #WeAreDKPD pic.twitter.com/AfaA8CtXgx
— DeKalb County Police Department (@DeKalbCountyPD) February 1, 2021
On Jan. 21, police responded to a 3:30 a.m. shots-fired call and found Rooks dead at the scene with multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Silento was also arrested in August for assault with a deadly weapon after being accused of walking into an unlocked stranger’s home in the Valley Village area of Los Angeles and swinging a hatchet at the two people inside before one of them disarmed him. A day prior to that arrest, he was held on domestic violence charges at a Santa Ana, Calif., home. In October, he was arrested for allegedly driving 143 mph in DeKalb County.
Billboard named Silento’s biggest hit, “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),” as one of our 100 Songs That Defined the Decade in 2019, thanks to it starting a viral dance craze and whipping all the way up the Hot 100 to No. 3.
