Silento was accused of allegedly ‘using a hatchet as a deadly and dangerous weapon’ and faces up to six years in state prison. Learn more about the arrest and the rapper himself, best known for his hit ‘Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae’).
Silento, the 22-year-old rapper who became a teenage sensation with “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),” has been arrested twice within the span of two days. He was most recently arrested and charged for allegedly “threatening two strangers with a hatchet last weekend” on Aug. 29, which the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced in a Sept. 3 press release obtained by HollywoodLife. The rapper (whose legal name is Richard Lamar Hawk) is now facing “two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon with allegations of using a hatchet as a deadly and dangerous weapon,” the report added.
Silento at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards in 2016. He was nominated for “Favorite New Artist” that year. (AP)
Silento reportedly “entered the strangers’ residence while searching for his girlfriend,” and “the homeowners and their children were home at the time and were shaken by the intrusion but unharmed,” 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 Sheriff’s Department. While the reason for this arrest wasn’t listed, he was booked “after a report of a domestic disturbance” according to authorities, per ABC 7. HollywoodLife has reached out to Silento’s rep for comment.
Silento’s bail for his most recent arrest is now set at $105,000 and he faces a “possible maximum sentence of six years in state prison,” according to the LA County District Attorney’s Office. Now, learn more about the hip-hop artist as he awaits his arraignment on Sept. 4:
1. Silento rose to fame at just 16 years old with his debut single, “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae).” 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). “Within the first day it went to 1,000 listens. The next day it was at 4,000,” 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 Billboard’s “Hot 100” chart.
2. Despite signing with a big label, Silento decided to finish the rest of his high school experience. The success of “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” inked a deal with Capitol Records, but he didn’t go the homeschooling route afterwards. “I didn’t get to experience a lot of the things new artists get to experience when they’re first signed. Certain events, performances. I was still in school working to get my diploma,” Silento also wrote on his website.
3. You’ve probably heard Silento on this other hit song, too. After kicking off his music career with “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),” Silento worked on collaborations with other artists. One of his most notable collabs was “Dessert” 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.
Silento at the 2016 BET Awards. (AP)
5. Silento has also used his fame to give back to the community. The rapper has visited children’s hospitals and even received “an honor from the mayor of Augusta, Georgia for his charitable work within Atlanta,” where he is from, according to Silento’s website. In 2019, he partnered with DoSomething.org’s “The Hit We’ll Take” campaign against e-cigs, vapes and Juuling.
Sourse: hollywoodlife.com
