Ames’ hip-hop scene attempted to make a mark this past weekend at Zeke’s, giving the audience two hours of rhymes and other forms of entertainment all from Chicago.

Multiple rappers, dancers and a designer ruled the building. All rappers featured that night were from the Chicago area and were gathered by local producer Antonio Roddy.

“I’ve been doing this [arranging Ames hip-hop shows] for four years with no help,” Roddy said.

Rappers were on and off the stage with short sets ranging from five to 10 minutes due to the time constraint and large list of performers.

The show gathered anywhere from 30 to 50 attendees in the building the entire time, but a lot of attendees were performers, and the crowd seemed to be uninterested in most of the sets.

Zeke’s director Matt Heerema commented on the scene as being just another typical show.

“The crowd is medium; there’s a good turn out for hip-hop shows,” Heerema says. “This pretty typical to see them just stand there.”

“It is a kind of mixed crowd,” Roddy said. “Some people are getting into it, others aren’t.”

Chicago hip-hop artist Notrydo Sincere saw his first Iowa performance as a surprising one.

“The turnout was a lot better than I thought it was,” Sincere said.

Sincere changed the show by performing in the crowd versus performing on stage as well as taking control over the crowd at some points.

Sincere’s performance stuck out as well with the addition of the official drum line for the Chicago Bulls, the Kaotic Drum Line being a part of his set, even having their own solo performance during the time Notrydo had on stage.

The show overall had a good turn out, but with limited audience participation or interest, it shows the hip-hop scene seemed to be a gathering that left a limited mark on the scene.

Other parts of the show included a break dance team and a design show by Nekia Marie Boutique.