'Watch Me (Whip-Nae Nae)' rapper Silento charged with murder in Atlanta

(Image credit: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

The Atlanta rapper Silento, best known for his 2015 hit "Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)," was arrested Monday and charged with the murder of his cousin, Frederick Rooks, the DeKalb County Police Department said. Silento, the stage name of 23-year-old Ricky Lamar Hawk, was being held without bond in a DeKalb County jail late Monday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Police found Rooks, 34, dead with multiple gunshot wounds early Jan. 21, and they used security cameras from multiple residents to recreate what happened.

Hawk told the Journal-Constitution in 2015 that he put "Watch Me" on YouTube after he lost the talent show at DeKalb's Redan High School, to prove the haters wrong. It has since been watched more than 1.8 billion times and spawned its own dance craze. His first album, Fresh Outta High School, came in out in 2018. Hawk has more recently gotten in trouble with the law, the Journal-Constitution reports. He was arrested twice in one week last April, for domestic violence and gun charges in California, then arrested again in DeKalb County in October for driving at more than 140 mph on I-85.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.