“🚨 ‘Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)’ Rapper Silentó Sentenced to 30 YEARS in Prison — The Chilling Murder That Shocked Fans 😱🔪”

It’s the tragic and twisted downfall of a one-time internet sensation.

Silentó, born Richard Lamar Hawk, has officially been sentenced to 30 years behind bars after pleading guilty to the 2021 murder of his cousin, Frederick Rooks.

The sentence was handed down in a Georgia courtroom this week, bringing a shocking and violent chapter to a close—but leaving behind a trail of unanswered questions, broken families, and a legacy forever stained by bloodshed.

The story reads like a cautionary tale straight from a true crime documentary.

Just six years after bursting onto the charts with the inescapable hit “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),” Silentó was no longer the smiling teen star on daytime talk shows.

By 2021, he had become a tabloid fixture for erratic behavior, disturbing arrests, and reports of mental instability.

But nothing prepared fans—or even those close to him—for what happened on January 21, 2021.

That night, police responded to reports of gunshots in a quiet suburban neighborhood in Panthersville, Georgia.

There, they found 34-year-old Frederick Rooks lying dead in the middle of the street with multiple gunshot wounds.

Surveillance footage, along with license plate recognition and witness statements, quickly led authorities to a shocking suspect: Silentó.

Just hours after the murder, he was arrested and charged with felony murder, aggravated assault, and gun-related offenses.

At the time of the crime, Silentó’s legal team claimed he was suffering from severe mental health issues, including bipolar disorder and schizoaffective disorder, which they said had gone untreated and worsened over time.

In the months leading up to the murder, Silentó had been arrested multiple times—including for domestic violence, trespassing into a stranger’s home while allegedly wielding a machete, and reckless driving at 143 mph.

Fans who once knew him as the clean-cut dance rap star were now watching a disturbing spiral unfold in real time.

In court, Silentó pleaded guilty but mentally ill—a legal designation that acknowledges both the criminal act and the mental health conditions influencing it.

While this plea spared him from a potential life sentence without parole, the judge still handed down a staggering 30-year prison term, followed by 10 years on probation.

Silentó will reportedly serve his sentence in a facility equipped to provide psychiatric care.

The courtroom was packed with emotional testimony from both families—those mourning Frederick Rooks and those still trying to process Richard Hawk’s descent into darkness.

“This is not justice.

This is tragedy,” said one family member in tears.

Others demanded accountability, arguing that mental illness does not excuse the violent taking of a life.

The divide between sympathy and outrage was palpable.

Fans, meanwhile, are still reeling.

Silentó was just 17 when “Watch Me” catapulted him into stardom, racking up over 1.

9 billion views on YouTube and becoming one of the most viral dance hits of the decade.

Schools, weddings, and even sports teams choreographed routines to his song.

But unlike other viral stars who transitioned into stable careers or faded quietly, Silentó’s fame seemed to collapse under the weight of unmanaged fame, personal demons, and a system ill-equipped to support him.

Many in the music industry are now questioning how much of this tragedy could’ve been prevented.

Silentó’s erratic behavior was public knowledge long before the murder—so why wasn’t there intervention? Why didn’t the industry or his inner circle do more to get him help before it was too late? Was the fame too fast, too young, too uncontrolled?

There are no easy answers.

But what’s certain is this: the young man once known for making millions smile is now a convicted murderer, his legacy a twisted shadow of what it once promised to be.

Frederick Rooks is dead.

Silentó’s life, as he knew it, is over.

And the world that once danced to his music is now left mourning the loss of both a victim and an artist destroyed by his own unraveling mind.

As the final gavel struck, signaling the end of this harrowing case, Silentó reportedly showed little emotion.

Whether due to medication, trauma, or resignation, the boy who once urged the world to whip and nae nae was silent—perhaps finally understanding the gravity of what he had done.

The fall from viral fame to prison bars is one of the most chilling celebrity collapses in recent memory.

And while the dance may live on, the man behind it is now serving decades for a crime that no one saw coming… but no one will ever forget.