Here's Why You Won't Be Hearing From Rapper Silentó Anytime Soon

If you've heard the song "Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)" then chances are you've come across rapper Silentó. Silentó (given name: Richard Lamar Hawk) easily climbed the Billboard charts in 2015 with a song that was both catchy and danceable. It even got him a record deal.

Most people don't know that the rapper was only 16 years old when "Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)" became an overnight internet sensation. As anyone can see through celebrity experiences like Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, or even Johnny Deep, the pressure of fame during vulnerable teenage years can often lead to bad behavior. Now, several albums and a series of shocking arrests later, fans are wondering: What happened to Silentó?

In August 2021, a grand jury indicted Silentó in the murder of his cousin, who was fatally shot in January of that year. A month after the shooting, his publicist shared an alarming post to Instagram asking fans to pray for her client. "In regards to his mental health, we are continuing the efforts to ensure that where he is being housed, they will properly adhere to ensuring that he gets the proper medications and in-house therapy to stabilize his present conditions," wrote Chanel Hudson.

Almost four years after his arrest, Silentó pleaded "guilty but mentally ill" to voluntary manslaughter as well as aggravated assault, possessing a gun while committing a crime, and concealing the death of another, reported the Associated Press. A murder charge was dropped as part of a plea deal. The rapper was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

In August 2020, Silentó was arrested for domestic assault, reported ABC 7, after Santa Ana police received a call about a domestic disturbance. While the identity of Silentó's girlfriend was unknown, he was taken into custody on a charge of inflicting corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant.

Here's where things get scarier. The very next day, Silentó was arrested again, this time for attacking strangers with a hatchet. Prosecutors stated that the rapper walked into a stranger's Los Angeles home, which was unlocked, and began swinging the hatchet at two people. He was disarmed by one of the inhabitants of the home.

And finally, on Oct. 23, 2020, Silentò was arrested for a third time for driving 143 mph on Interstate 85. He reportedly told police on the scene that it was OK since he was "not a regular person", then later insisted he was speeding because he was often followed leaving events.

To top it all off, in between arrests, Silentó had reportedly leaked his nudes to Twitter, and fans were ... not kind, to say the least. Whatever the reason for the leak, be it an accident or a misguided attempt to draw attention to his music, it was definitely not what the Twitter-verse was expecting that day.