Principal Drops Rhymes In Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Rap Battle

LAKE FOREST, IL — A rap battle created by high school students poking fun at the rivalry between two posh suburbs is being shared beyond the North Shore. Created for this year's talent show at Lake Forest High School, the student-produced parody hip-hop video is set to the tune of Kendrick Lamar's "Humble" and features a cameo from the school's principal. The Lake Forest-Lake Bluff rap battle was posted Saturday night and racked up more than 23,000 views in fewer than three days.

Filmed across both towns, the comedic video features verses by senior co-directors Annalise Craig and Whitney Perschke, plus a guest appearance from Principal Chala Holland.

In the opening skit, other students point out it's not the first time the theme has been explored.

"But not by girls," Craig and Perschke respond in unison.

The song's lyrics poke fun at the relationship between the stuffier and more privileged residents of Lake Forest and those from their smaller and slightly less affluent neighbor Lake Bluff.

"Wanna drive a Benz? Yeah, I bet you wish you could though," raps Craig, portraying the stereotypical materialist Lake Forester. "We can serve you looks, because that's the only thing we have that's free."

"You can't even learn without a private tutor," raps Whitney Perschke. "Lake Forest's old money won't even last long."

Some of the sites around Lake Bluff and Lake Forest to receive call-outs during the "LF vs. LB Rap Battle": Authentico, Caputo Cheese Market, The Deer Path Inn, Inovasi, Knollwood (from Principal Holland), the Lake Bluff Brewing Company, Lake Forest Sportscars, Market House, Starbucks, the Other Door and other local landmarks and businesses.

The video was one of 10 comedic shorts created by the school's new media videography class shown during last week's talent show, but the only one to make it onto the WGN-TV morning news. According to the school paper, both of the video's directors plan to attend film school in the fall. LFHS New Media Instructor Steve Douglass told Daily North Shore there were more than two dozen setups required for the project, which he described as an "awesome group effort."

"Excellence is fostered, it doesn't matter where you live," raps Holland in a closing verse that served to lyrically resolve the differences between the pair of provincial rivals.

"Your principal just went viral," she concludes.