BODY COUNT have never shied away from keeping it raw and real. In that spirit, Ice-T and crew launched a contest for fans to illuminate the musical and lyrical ballistics to their song “The Hate Is Real”, taken from the band’s latest album, “Carnivore”.
Fans were asked to create and submit their own videos so the band could pick the best as the visual accompaniment to BODY COUNT’s bloody, multi-tiered take on personal and systemic hate. Now the choice has been made and you can watch the winning video for “The Hate Is Real”, created by 25-year-old Brooklyn, New York-based filmmaker Seby Martinez below.
Ice-T told Metal Hammer about “The Hate Is Real”: “One day, I heard Jim Jones from [American hip-hop group] DIPSET say, ‘Love is fake, but the hate is real.’ I said, ‘That’s a song, because I believe when people say they love you, that could be a figure of speech.’ It’s, like, ‘Yo, man, I love this dude.’ But when someone hates you, they really hate you. Hate is fuckin’ real. Whether it’s racial hate, religious hate, whatever it is, it divides us. I feel like we’re dealing with all kinds of really hateful shit and we just need to address it.”
As previously reported, BODY COUNT was honored with a Grammy in the “Best Metal Performance” category in the pre-telecast ceremony at the 63rd annual Grammy Awards, which was held Sunday (March 14) in Los Angeles. BODY COUNT was nominated for “Bum-Rush”, a track from “Carnivore”.
“Carnivore” was released in March 2020 via Century Media. BODY COUNT’s second album for Century Media continued the path of its uncompromising and critically acclaimed predecessors, “Bloodlust” and “Manslaugther”, in pairing Ice-T’s impassioned and socio-critical lyrics with thick guitar riffs and nods to metal and hardcore greats like SLAYER, METALLICA, PANTERA, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES and RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE. Guest musicians include Amy Lee (EVANESCENCE), Dave Lombardo (ex-SLAYER), Jamey Jasta (HATEBREED) and Riley Gale (POWER TRIP).