No Lives Matter
| No Lives Matter | |
|---|---|
| Body count | |
| publication | 2017 |
| length | 4:23 |
| Genre (s) | Hardcore rap , heavy metal |
| Author (s) | Tracy Marrow (Ice-T), Vincent Price , Will Dorsey (Ill Will), William Scott Putney |
| Label | Century Media |
| album | Bloodlust |
No Lives Matter is a 2017 song by the American crossover band Body Count. It was released on the album Bloodlust and was released as a video track. Ice-T took up the discussions about the Black Lives Matter discussion in the USA and contrasted them with the basic message of the song.
background
The song was written by Tracy Marrow (Ice-T), Vincent Price , Will Dorsey (Ill Will) and William Scott Putney . It was produced for the album Bloodlust , which was released on March 31, 2017 as the band's sixth album on Century Media . It was played by Ice-T as rapper, Vincent Price as bassist, Ill Will on drums, and Juan Of The Dead and Ernie C as guitarists.
Since the band Body Count's debut album in 1992, Body Count's musical oeuvre has been shaped by dealing with racism against blacks and other population groups. In this context, numerous songs were created on previous albums in the crossover style typical of Body Count, consisting of hardcore rap and heavy metal , including songs like Body Count , KKK Bitch , Momma's Gotta Die Tonight , Born Dead and above all Cop Killer . No Lives Matter joins these songs.
The video for No Lives Matter was released on the official channels of Body Count and Century Media prior to the album in February 2017. The black and white video had been viewed more than three million times by mid-2020.
Music and lyrics
The song begins with a spoken intro by Ice-T , in which he describes the current situation surrounding the controversy between Black Lives Matter and the typical reply “ All Lives Matter ”: With the reply, the statement is contrasted with an answer that dilutes it and the underlying theme, racism , should make it insignificant:
"But when I say 'Black Lives Matter' and you say 'All Lives Matter', that's like if I was to say
'Gay Lives Matter' and you say 'All Lives Matter'.
If I said, 'Women's Lives Matter' and you say 'All Lives Matter',
you're diluting what I'm saying. You're diluting the issue.
The issue isn't about everybody. It's about black lives, at the moment. "
In the following aggressively performed stanzas, Ice-T clarifies why no life has any meaning in the system, at least no life of a person from the poorer strata of the population:
"When it comes to the poor
No lives matter"
He shows that the life of the poor has never played a role, whether black, yellow, red or white. As long as they have no money, they are meaningless (“But honestly it ain't just black / It's yellow, it's brown, it's red / It's anyone who ain't got cash / Poor whites that they call trash”) to be aware of this and stick together so that the powerful no longer have a chance (“They can't, fuck with us / Once they realize we're all on the same side”). This call is repeated several times as a refrain together with the title part.
In a spoken passage with a quieter background, Ice-T also adds the reasons for this: The rich can afford expensive lawyers and thus “save their asses” (“You never see them pulling rich people out of their cars in their neighborhoods, because they know They got lawyers. They know they'll sue their ass. They can tell who to fuck with. ") However, the poor cannot do this and, above all, the colored are always regarded as poor by the powerful (" Unfortunately, black or brown skin has always meant poor. They're profiling you kid. They know you can't fight back. "). After that, a news item is played, which covers the killing of the black Keith Lamont Scott on September 20, 2016 by an Officer Vinson. Scott is said to have been armed, according to reports from eyewitnesses, the multiple father is said to have had a book in hand. The news sequence is spoken by Jackie Kajzer who is known as "Full Metal Jackie" and has its own radio show, and the musician Jason Charles Miller.,
The song itself is held in the aggressive chant of hardcore rap and is accompanied by the instrumentation with drums, bass and two guitars, which are used in the style of heavy metal . This creates the typical cross-over sound for the band.
reception
The guitarist Ernie C already expressed himself before the album's release and in the context of No Lives Matter about the intention of the song and puts it in the context of the presidency of Donald Trump :
“A lot of bands just have nothing to say these days. But that's not the band: 25 years ago we didn't shy away from anything and why should it be any different now? Ice and I had a chat about how everyone has become complacent over the past eight years. Obama was in office and good, but that also made everyone too comfortable. Trump is in office for a month and is radically changing things. He went completely nuts within 30 days. I hope that more bands will say something. "
According to Vice.com, No Lives Matter was "the best music video in the world" in early 2017. The magazine relates the video directly to the "anti-police anthem" Cop Killer from the 1992 debut album by the band Body Count , which was controversial. Even with Cop Killer was the racism of the police against blacks in the center of the song, it was in response to the violence of several police officers against the black Rodney King , after the acquittal of the perpetrators in Los Angeles to massive riots led. According to vice.com, Body Count sounded "angry like never before" in No Lives Matter 25 years later .
In the context of the protests following the death of George Floyd in 2020, Body Count released the song again as a shortened version (radio edit), as it has become more topical again. Philipp Schulte, the director of the record company Century Media, said about the Nauausgabe: “As a company, we felt it was necessary to release this single as a way to actively participate in the change that is needed to combat police brutality and racism. It is a first step in doing our part to inspire unity and transformation. "
supporting documents
- ↑ a b Body Count - Bloodlust at Discogs ; accessed on August 1, 2020.
- ↑ Body Count - No Lives Matter , official music video on youtube.com; accessed on August 1, 2020.
- ↑ Body Count - No Lives Matter on backspin.de; accessed on August 1, 2020.
- ↑ a b c Spencer Kaufman: Body Count Release “No Lives Matter” as Radio Single in Support of Anti-Racism Movement on consequenceofsound.net, June 17, 2020; accessed on August 1, 2020.
- ↑ a b c d Body Count - No Lives Matter , lyrics on genius.com; accessed on August 1, 2020.
- ↑ Body Count: Ernie C on 'No Lives Matter', Dave Mustaine and Black Sabbath , interview with Eric C on metal-hammer.de , March 10, 2017; accessed on August 1, 2020.
- ↑ a b c "No Lives Matter" by Ice-Ts Body Count is today the best music video in the world on vice.com, February 20, 2017; accessed on August 1, 2020.
- ↑ Ice T Explains the Meaning of Body Count's No Lives Matter , Interview with Ice-T on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on youtube.com, July 29, 2020; accessed on August 1, 2020.