In March of 2018, Chicago-based collective DIAL UP released their widely acclaimed debut full length project, DIAL UP CD (side A). In May, they headlined the Underground Underdogs showcase in Chicago, and then threw a Big Ass Party following right after — Big Ass Party #5, to be exact. Lately, the eccentric group of skilled individuals have been quiet, save for a Jemal Four music video released shortly after our concert. With no content in months, the visuals for “Riverside High” are a pleasant surprise from the supergroup.
DIAL UP’s movie-like video production and intricate story writing sets the collective apart from the current over saturation of run-and-gun hip-hop music videos. If you forgot what high school was like, “Riverside High” offers you a nostalgic look back, setting the scene at the drunken haze of an after party full of cheerleaders, jocks, beer pong, and weed.
DIAL UP’s multi-talented Dave Prime who raps and produces for the group, also wrote the treatment and scored the video. He explains to Underground Underdogs that, “I had this idea one night of Jeff playing some boss who runs a high school drug ring and slapping the SHIT out of someone on camera. We ain’t get to do the slapping part, but we ran with the idea.”
In the video, the drug runner ends up letting a bunch of high schoolers smoke his weed. We follow the stash from start to finish, with Magic Williams masterfully delivering his verse on the porch next to groupies, to Juno Parks rapping as he’s chilling and smoking with a cheerleader, all the way to the bathroom where Bria is singing a beautiful ballad while helping her friend vomit her brains out in the toilet. DIAL UP ends up smoking all of the weed, and despite the drug runner’s best attempts to retrieve the stash, his efforts are futile — for he gets gunned down in the end. “Overall a very good night,” Dave Prime concludes in an email to Underground Underdogs.
If the video sounds outrageous, it’s because it is. Do yourself a favor and watch the Link Wolfe directed visuals down below: