Atlanta rapper Silento, known for his 2015 chart-topper “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),” has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to shooting his cousin dead in 2021.

Silento (Ricky Lamar Hawk) had been scheduled to stand trial this week over the death of his cousin Frederick Rooks. Instead, the 27-year-old rapper took a plea deal on Wednesday (June 11).

The rapper pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, gun possession and concealing a death but said he was mentally ill when the crimes were committed. The manslaughter charge was downgraded from a harsher malice murder count in his indictment, while Georgia prosecutors agreed to drop another felony murder charge.

DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Courtney Johnson sentenced Silento to 30 years in prison following the plea. He’ll get credit for the four years he’s spent in jail since his 2021 arrest.

Prosecutors claim Silento shot his 34-year-old cousin Rooks multiple times in February 2021 and then fled the scene. Silento allegedly admitted to killing Rooks during a post-arrest interview with investigators, and prosecutors say bullet casings recovered from the scene matched a gun found on the rapper when he was apprehended.

A rep for Silento said when he was arrested in 2021 that the rapper had been “suffering immensely from a series of mental health illnesses.” He was diagnosed with severe bipolar disorder in jail, according to court filings.

Speaking to Billboard following the plea and sentencing on Wednesday (June 11), Silento’s attorney Keith Adams said, “For the first time since he’s been arrested, Ricky is in his right mind, and he’s in a place where he has a full understanding of everything that happened and what brought him here.”

“He’s been dealing with mental illness since the age of 12, and it’s unfortunate that it ended that way,” Adams said. “We think the outcome is appropriate, and we look forward to continued improvement in his mental health.”

“Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” spawned a viral dance craze in 2015 and spent 51 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 3. In 2019, Billboard named the track one of the 100 Songs That Defined the Decade.

Silento faced a number of legal troubles after the success of “Watch Me.” In 2017, he was held in the United Arab Emirates over a business dispute with a local concert promoter, after which a court ordered him to pay 300,000 dirhams ($81,500) for failing to play two scheduled shows in Al Ain and Abu Dhabi.

In 2020, Silento was arrested twice in two days in California for domestic violence and for walking into a stranger’s home holding a hatchet. Later the same year, he was arrested again for driving 143 mph on Interstate 85 in Georgia.

This story was updated on June 11 at 7:12 p.m. ET to add a statement from Silento’s attorney.

Benjamin Hightower has channeled Chappell Roan for his America’s Got Talent audition, going from Tennessee to Los Angeles to receive a standing ovation from judges for his performance of “Pink Pony Club.”

Appearing on Tuesday (June 10) night’s episode of America’s Got Talent, Hightower told judges how he ended seven years of active duty in the Air Force to pursue his dreams of stardom. “I made the really scary choice to get out of the military and take a chance on myself because I believe in my ability to be a performer,” he explained.

Dressed in a white shirt and ripped jeans, the unassuming musician sat behind a keyboard as he launched into a triumphant rendition of Roan’s “Pink Pony Club.” Originally released in 2020, the single gained renewed attention following Roan’s 2025 Grammy Awards performance, and hit No. 4 on the Hot 100, tying with “Good Luck, Babe!” as her highest-charting single to date.

Receiving a rapturous reception from the audience (which included his own mother), Hightower explained that it was a more than fitting track given his roots in Tennessee. Though Roan grew up in Missouri, the lyrics to “Pink Pony Club” describe the singer’s desire to leave Tennessee in hopes of acceptance on the west coast.

“That song is great, but I think that also could be a hit; your rendition of her song,” enthused judge Howie Mandel. “It was beautiful, it was great.” 

“The perfect audition, this is what you’re supposed to be doing,” added Sofia Vergara. “I think America’s going to love you.”

The biggest response, however, came from Simon Cowell, who expressed his certainty that Hightower’s performance could become a viral hit. “I really like you. I really do,” he told the singer. 

“When I saw the keyboard I thought, ‘Oh God, it’s going to be something like “Stand By Me,” or something we’ve heard a billion times.’ And it wasn’t,” he added. “When you do somebody else’s song and you make it your version, that’s smart. I love that song, I love your version, and I don’t know, there’s something about you I really like.”

Hightower’s overwhelmingly positive reception was echoed in his own response to the acclaim, with the visibly emotional performer telling host Terry Crews that the moment has been a long time coming.

“If the little kid who grew up in Tennessee could see me now, he would be so proud,” he explained.

 Watch Hightower’s full performance below:

Kendrick Lamar will be making his grand return to Australia this year, with the rapper announcing new dates for his ongoing Grand National Tour.

Lamar announced on Wednesday (June 11) that he will be performing two headline dates while in Australia this December, with stadium shows set for Melbourne’s AAMI Park on Dec. 3 and Sydney’s Allianz Stadium on Dec. 10.

The newly-announced headline shows follow on from Lamar’s inclusion on the Spilt Milk Festival lineup which arrived in early May. Also featuring Doechii, Sara Landry, Dominic Fike and Schoolboy Q as headliners, the festival will take place across Ballarat, Perth, Canberra and the Gold Coast between December 6-14.

The forthcoming shows will be Lamar’s first visit to Australia since The Big Steppers Tour in 2022, though unlike his current run of North American dates, they will feature Lamar in solo mode as opposed to his co-headlining status with SZA.

Lamar’s nascent tour dates also arrive in the wake of his latest batch of honors, this time coming from the BET Awards on Monday (June 9).

Having been nominated for a total of ten awards across six categories, Lamar ended the evening as the most awarded artist, with the ceremony at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater resulting in five trophies going his way, including album of the year, video of the year, best collaboration (with SZA), best male hip hop artist, and video director of the year (with Dave Free).

Additionally, in February 2025, in the wake of Lamar’s Grammy Awards success, his 2024 single “Not Like Us” re-entered the Australian ARIA charts and gave the rapper his first No. 1 single in the country.

Kendrick Lamar – 2025 Australian Tour Dates

Dec. 3 – AAMI Park, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Dec. 6 – Spilt Milk Festival, Ballarat, VIC, Australia
Dec. 7 – Spilt Milk Festival, Perth, WA, Australia
Dec. 10 – Allianz Stadium, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Dec. 13 – Spilt Milk Festival, Canberra, ACT, Australia
Dec. 14 – Spilt Milk Festival, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia

YEONCHEON, South Korea — Jimin and Jung Kook of BTS were officially discharged from South Korea’s mandatory military service on Wednesday (June 11), marking a major step forward in the group’s long-awaited reunion.

With their discharge, six of the seven BTS members have now completed their service obligations, with only SUGA currently fulfilling his alternative service as a social worker. His discharge is expected later this month.

On Tuesday morning, fans and media began gathering near Yeoncheon Public Stadium in Gyeonggi Province to welcome the two stars. Jimin and Jung Kook appeared with bright smiles, offering brief greetings and expressing their sincere gratitude to supporters who had waited for their return.

“Thank you to the fans and reporters who came to see us,” Jimin said. “It’s been a long time, from the pandemic to military service. Now that we’re back, we’ll work hard to show you what we’ve prepared.”

“There were a lot of unforgettable moments,” Jung Kook added. “Thanks to everyone who served with us and supported us along the way.” Jimin also hinted at what’s to come: “Now that I’m discharged, I think it’s time we continue drawing the picture we had in mind. We’ll prepare well and share it with you soon.” He concluded: “Military life wasn’t easy, but I’m grateful for the memories. If you see a soldier on the street, a warm gesture can mean a lot.”

The two enlisted together in late 2023, completing basic training at the same boot camp before being assigned to separate units. Jimin served with the military band under the 5th Infantry Division, while Jung Kook completed his service with the Baekma Division.

During their time in uniform, both BTS members continued to make waves in the music world. Jimin made history as the first Korean solo artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 with his single “Like Crazy” from the album FACE, while Jung Kook’s solo debut GOLDEN peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and earned international acclaim across global charts.

BTS has been on hiatus from group activities since 2023 as members fulfilled their enlistment obligations but with Jin and j-hope, as well as RM and V as of Tuesday and now Jimin and Jung Kook discharged, the group’s full return is right around the corner, only awaiting SUGA’s return.

Their highly anticipated first public reunion is set at the upcoming 2025 BTS FESTA, taking place June 13-14 at KINTEX in Goyang, South Korea. The event promises to be a powerful homecoming celebration for fans worldwide and the start of BTS’ next chapter.

Thanks to a decadeslong love of Frank Sinatra and a relationship with his family that started when Frank Sinatra Jr. guest-starred on Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane was entrusted with a gold mine of never-released material arranged for the late crooner that has become his just-released ninth studio album, Lush Life: The Lost Sinatra Arrangements.

“If you’re an aficionado of this kind of music, it’s like being a Lennon-McCartney fan and finding something that was written in like 1969 that was just never played,” MacFarlane tells Billboard‘s Pop Shop Podcast of Frank’s daughter, Tina Sinatra, approaching him with the opportunity to dig into 1,200 archival boxes of unrecorded sheet music arranged specifically for her dad. “And you hear it, and it’s like, ‘My God.’

“You know, the songs that we have are the songs that we have from his discography; obviously he’s gone, the arrangers are gone, so there’s nothing new. And then all of a sudden, it’s like, ‘Oh, you know what? There’s one more cookie at the bottom of the bag.’”

Listen to MacFarlane’s full interview in the new Pop Shop Podcast episode below:

Below, find highlights from our conversation with MacFarlane, and listen to the full chat in the podcast above.

Did Seth know these songs before digging in?

In many cases, no one has ever heard of them, because they just didn’t exist. There’s a song called “Who’s in Your Arms Tonight” — you could travel to the ends of the earth before we did this, and you would not find a single person who knows that song, because it just was never recorded, and everyone involved with this writing is long gone. … We asked the oldest guys in the band — I mean, our bassist played for Frank Sinatra for years in the last part of his life, and he had no idea what this was. So about a third of the songs on the album are songs in which both the song and the arrangement are just completely unknown.

What stood out in these unreleased arrangements?

Particularly in the case of [Sinatra arranger] Nelson Riddle, you could instantly hear his signature trademarks, like those flutes. And that was what was so interesting. There was no question who wrote this, but it was new. It was familiar stylistically, but it was new, in the same way you watch a Wes Anderson movie that’s brand-new, you’re instantly going to know it’s him. You’re going to see his visual touchstones, but the movie’s brand-new. That’s kind of how it was. It was so clearly Nelson Riddle, but we were hearing the first new Nelson Riddle chart that anyone has heard in decades. So it was a pretty profound moment.

Is there a duet opportunity for frequent collaborator Liz Gillies or Carpool Karaoke partner Ariana Grande?

It would have been nice if we had found some, you know, Rosemary Clooney or Peggy Lee duet. I mean, Liz would have been my first call. For this kind of music, there’s just no one better on the planet, but so far, we have not found any duets. We haven’t dug through these boxes in such detail that there couldn’t be one — there may be. There are 1,200 boxes. We couldn’t play everything on that day because an orchestra is expensive. … But there’s so much in that archive that it is possible, and, yeah, if we find something, then we’ll give Liz a call.

How long could Seth be mining this material?

There are a couple [songs] that we recorded that we cut from this album, just because we had, I don’t know, some edict to get it down to 12 songs or less. All I know is we were told initially, I think they wanted it to be like six songs. I’m, like, “Guys, that’s not an album.” I don’t know, there’s all this, like, marketing data that they go by, and really, nobody knows sh–, because if they did, everything would be a monster hit. [Laughs] So I do remember us pushing back and saying, “Let’s do an album’s worth of songs for this thing.” So it’s a dozen songs, which, for a Sinatra album, was in the ballpark. And there were a couple songs that we did record that were not included that would be on the next one. … There are probably two albums’ worth of real, honest-to-God songs that can be released.

On his July 3-5 stint at Voltaire Las Vegas

Is three days a residency? [Laughs] I once spent a week in Vegas, and I was like, “I’m forgetting who I am. I’m an insane person. The walls are moving.” That’s a lot of Vegas.

__________

Also on this week’s Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Taylor Swift’s former No. 1 album reputation, released in 2017, jumps from No. 78 to No. 5 on the Billboard 200 following an outpouring of fan support of the project after Swift announced she had acquired her Big Machine Records-era music catalog. Plus, SEVENTEEN and Miley Cyrus’ latest releases debut in the top five, while the top slots on both the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100 are static, with Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem” and Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” staying put.

We also hit the biggest pop headlines of the week, including Sabrina Carpenter’s new “Manchild” single and video, Darren Criss and Nicole Scherzinger winning at the Tony Awards, David Byrne joining Olivia Rodrigo onstage at Governors Ball, and Mariah Carey returning with her new Eric B. & Rakim-sampling single “Type Dangerous.”

The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)