Silento: 5 Things To Know About The Rapper Arrested & Charged With Murdering His Cousin

Silento has been accused and arrested for the alleged murder of his cousin, Frederick Rooks. Learn more about the arrest and the rapper himself, best known for his hit 'Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae').

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Silento, the 23-year-old rapper who became a teenage sensation with ā€œWatch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),ā€ has been charged for the alleged murder of his 34-year-old cousin, Frederick Rooks. The DeKalb County Police Department of Georgia confirmed the news after taking Silento (whose legal name is Richard Lamar ā€œRickyā€ Hawk) into custody on Feb. 1. Silentoā€™s cousin had died 11 days prior, according to the police station.

ā€œToday, Ricky Hawk, 23, was arrested for the murder of his cousin Frederick Rooks, 34,ā€ the police station tweeted on Feb. 1, adding, ā€œOn January 21, the DeKalb County Police Department investigated Rooksā€™ death after he was found shot on Deep Shoals Circle. Hawk is in the DeKalb County Jail charged with Murder.ā€

The DeKalb County Police Department provided even more details about the arrest and Silentoā€™s cousinā€™s death in a statement to HollywoodLife: ā€œToday, Ricky Hawk, 23, was arrested for the murder of Frederick Rooks, 34. On January 21, at approximately 3:30 a.m., the DeKalb County Police Department investigated a shooting after Rooks was found in the roadway on Deep Shoals Circle, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced deceased on the scene.  The suspect at the time was unknown.  However, after a thorough investigation, DKPD detectives identified Hawk as Rooksā€™ cousin, and the person responsible for Rooksā€™ murder. Investigators are still working to uncover the motive for the shooting.ā€

Silento has also not released an official statement in response to the murder allegation, and HollywoodLife has reached out to the rapper for comment. Now, learn more about Silentoā€™s career and his previous arrests from the fall of 2020:

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Silento at the Nickelodeon Kidsā€™ Choice Awards in 2016. He was nominated for ā€œFavorite New Artistā€ that year. (AP)

1. Silento rose to fame at just 16 years old with his debut single, ā€œWatch Me (Whip/Nae Nae).ā€ The rapper, then just a high school student, released his biggest song on SoundCloud in 2015 (he worked on the song with beatsmith Bolo Da Producer). ā€œWithin the first day it went to 1,000 listens. The next day it was at 4,000,ā€ Silento wrote on his website, and so he decided to drop the music video for the song on his 17th birthday in Jan. 2015. The video now has more than 1.7 billion views, and the song itself peaked at the No. 3 position on Billboardā€™s ā€œHot 100ā€ chart.

2. Despite signing with a big label, Silento decided to finish the rest of his high school experience. The success of ā€œWatch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)ā€ inked a deal with Capitol Records, but he didnā€™t go the homeschooling route afterwards. ā€œI didnā€™t get to experience a lot of the things new artists get to experience when theyā€™re first signed. Certain events, performances. I was still in school working to get my diploma,ā€ Silento also wrote on his website.

3. Youā€™ve probably heard Silento on this other hit song, too. After kicking off his music career with ā€œWatch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),ā€ Silento worked on collaborations with other artists. One of his most notable collabs was ā€œDessertā€ with Dawin. The original song dropped in March of 2015, but Silento came on-board for the music video that was released in Oct. 2019, which is now nearing 200 million views on YouTube.

4. He followed up the success of his debut single with his first album, Fresh Outta High School. Silento dropped his debut album in Sept. 2018.

The rapper also used his newfound fame to visit childrenā€™s hospitals and even received ā€œan honor from the mayor of Augusta, Georgia for his charitable work within Atlanta,ā€ where he is from, according to Silentoā€™s website. In 2019, he partnered with DoSomething.orgā€™s ā€œThe Hit Weā€™ll Takeā€ campaign against e-cigs, vapes and Juuling.

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Silento at the 2016 BET Awards. (AP)

5. Silento was arrested on three separate occasions in 2020. He was arrested twice within the span of two days in Aug. 2020. One of the arrests was for allegedly ā€œthreatening two strangers with a hatchet last weekendā€ on Aug. 29, which the Los Angeles County District Attorneyā€™s Office announced in a press release obtained by HollywoodLife. The rapper had faced ā€œtwo felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon with allegations of using a hatchet as a deadly and dangerous weapon,ā€ the report added.

Silento reportedly ā€œentered the strangersā€™ residence while searching for his girlfriend,ā€ and ā€œthe homeowners and their children were home at the time and were shaken by the intrusion but unharmed,ā€ which the LAPD told ABC 7. This happened after Silento was arrested and posted bail just a day prior in Santa Ana (where he lives) on Aug. 28, according to online records from the Orange County Sheriffā€™s Department. He was booked ā€œafter a report of a domestic disturbanceā€ according to authorities, per ABC 7. HollywoodLife had reached out to Silentoā€™s rep for comment at the time.

Silento then reportedly missed his court hearing in Sept. 2020 and a bench warrant of $105,000 was issued for his arrest, XXL magazine reported. Then, in October, Silento was arrested after reportedly ā€œdriving over 140 MPH in Atlantaā€; he was released on his ā€œown recognizanceā€ on the same day of the arrest, the outlet reported.