As part of BODY COUNT‘s music video contest where fans could contribute and submit their very own visual work to the band’s song “The Hate Is Real”, the Grammy Award-winning band fronted by hip-hop legend, actor and director Ice-T has now chosen the second version, which skillfully and perfectly transmits the mood and expressiveness of the track in every visual aspect. The video was created by German filmmaker Joerg Harms (Black Vision Films) and can be seen below.
“The Hate Is Real” is taken from BODY COUNT‘s latest album, “Carnivore”, which came out in March 2020 via Century Media.
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.”
Earlier this month, BODY COUNT announced plans to write and record a new studio album called “Merciless”. The upcoming disc will be the follow-up to “Carnivore”, which 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 included Amy Lee (EVANESCENCE), Dave Lombardo (ex-SLAYER), Jamey Jasta (HATEBREED) and Riley Gale (POWER TRIP).
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 on March 14 in Los Angeles. BODY COUNT was nominated for “Bum-Rush”, a track from “Carnivore”.
