We give a new proof of sequential weak* lower semicontinuity in BV. I R m / for integral functionals of the formCarathéodory integrand with linear growth at infinity, i.e. jf .x; A/j Ä M.1 C jAj/ for some M 0, and such that the recession function f 1 .x; A/ WD lim x 0 !x;t !1 t 1 f .x 0 ; tA/ exists and is (jointly) continuous. In contrast to the classical proofs by Ambrosio and Dal Maso [J. Funct. Anal. 109 (1992), 76-97] and Fonseca and Müller [Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 123 (1993), 1-49], we do not use Alberti's Rank-One Theorem [Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh Sect. A 123 (1993), 239-274], but a rigidity result for gradients. The proof is set in the framework of generalized Young measures and proceeds via establishing Jensen-type inequalities for regular and singular points of Du.