Visiting from the area code of 612 is Doomtree, a collaboration among artists Cecil Otter, P.O.S., Dessa, Mike Mictlan, and Sims with DJs Paper Tiger and Lazerbeak. The group of seven will perform at the Maintenance shop Thursday night.

“We started out about 10 years ago and we were right out of high school and we were all friends and we were all interested in making this type of music,” band DJ Lazerbeak said. “We would all hold each other up.”

Doomtree naturally emerged out of each individual artist trying to make his or her own way in the industry. They would attend each other’s shows and help promote each other.

“It came from very humble beginnings,” Lazerbeak said. “It was like ‘we don’t really know what we’re doing,’ so it was easier for us to join forces and do it together, and it never really stopped.”

Last year, Doomtree released their highly anticipated second album, “No Kings.” According to Pitchfork’s Nate Patrin, “They can each go in their own distinct directions. But as a unit, they complement each others’ talents naturally, each providing their own variations on allegorical stress-rap.”

“It took us a while to really learn how to write together,” Lazerbeak said. “It used to be someone would give a beat and then one person would write a hook and two verses, and we’d ask someone else to kind of fill in the third verse.”

Lazerbeak went on to describe the process of writing their newest album and said the group tried to make it sound like “a band where we wrote songs together. … For the first time, the producers worked together to make beats … and instead of one person taking a song and working on it for a month, we actually rented a cabin for five days and we put beats on loop and the five rappers kind of paced around the kitchen and wrote together.”

Lazerbeak said the band is excited to perform in Ames.

“I enjoy getting to play the small Midwest cities,” Lazerbeak said. “It’s a little more laid back and more intimate.”

Doomtree

Where: The M-Shop

When: Thursday at 8 p.m.

Cost: $9 students, $15 general