Viral Rapper’s 30-Year Lockdown: Did the Stars Predict This Shocking Fall from Fame?
Added on June 12, 2025 inMusic News Cards
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Isn’t it wild how some songs just stick to your brain like glitter on a craft project gone rogue? Take Silentó’s ‘Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)’—the earworm that took 2015 by storm, inspiring dance moves nobody could nail but everyone tried anyway. But here’s a curveball for your cosmic musings: the rapper behind that endlessly catchy chant, Ricky Lamar Hawk, just got hit with a 30-year prison sentence. It’s enough to make you wonder—did the stars warn him about fame’s fickle dance? Maybe Mercury was retrograding while the Whip and Nae Nae were trending, because the highs of viral superstardom spiraled into a nightmare none of us saw coming. From a billion YouTube listens to courtroom headlines, this tale’s got more twists than a zodiac wheel on a caffeine buzz. Buckle up, ‘cause this ain’t your typical music flashback. LEARN MORE
The Rapper best known for creating the viral song of 2015 has been given a 30 year prison sentence.
Silentó, real name Ricky Lamar Hawk, achieved viral fame after creating the annoying yet catchy song ‘Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)’ exactly a decade ago.
You know the song, made up entirely of a repetitive beat and the words ‘Watch me whip/ Watch Nae Nae’ repeated over and over again. It was pretty much inescapable for the entirety of summer 2015.
It was accompanied by a series of corresponding dance moves such as the Whip, Nae Nae, Stanky Leg and Superman – which, of course, no one could properly replicate.
Hawk was never able to replicate the same viral fame in the rest of his music career and isn’t going to anytime soon, as he will now be spending the next few decades behind bars.
Hawk was arrested in January 2021 after his cousin Frederick Rooks was found with gunshot wounds to the face and leg in the US state of Georgia, Variety reports.
He would later die from his injuries.
The rapper was later arrested and charged with the murder of his cousin. Four years on and Hawk has now received 30 years in prison for the crime, after accepting a plea deal.
The 27-year-old pleaded guilty but mentally ill to a series of charges relating to the shooting of Rooks. It’s understood that Hawk accepted a deal which saw him plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter (reduced from malice murder), aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and concealing the death of another.
Ricky Lamar Hawk received the sentence after accepting a plea deal (DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office via Getty Images)
Another felony charge was also dropped as part of the agreement.
Hawk’s 30 year sentence will also include the time already served following his initial arrest in 2021.
Following the sentence, Hawk’s publicist released a statement stating the rapper had been suffering from a ‘series of mental illnesses‘ and will continue treatment while incarcerated.
“Over the past several years, Ricky has been suffering immensely from a series of mental illnesses,” she wrote.
Silentó was still in school when he achieved viral fame (Paras Griffin/WireImage)
“We will continue in his efforts of treatment, but we ask in the meantime the public uplift him and his family in immediate prayer & positive energy.”
Prior to 2021, Hawk was arrested in August 2020 over an alleged domestic violence incident, and he was arrested again in the following October for driving 143 mph in a 65 mph zone.
Meanwhile his track ‘Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)’ has been listened to over a billion times on YouTube and 400 million times on Spotify.
He also received nominations for ‘Song of the Summer’ at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards.
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