Heiruspecs is not your typical two-turntables-and-a-microphone hip-hop act. In fact, the Minnesota-based quintet doesn’t even have a turntable.

By creating a unique live experience not often seen in today’s rap game — using live instruments rather than a DJ — the group has been labeled by some as “The Roots of the Midwest.” But lead MC Felix says he has no problem with the comparison.

“I don’t have a problem with it. The Roots are a great band,” Felix says. “Those are some difficult shoes to fill, but that’s not what we’re shooting for, or anything like that.”

Made of bassist Twinkiejiggles, keyboardist DvRG, drummer Peter Leggett, beatboxer/lyricisit Muad’Dib and Felix, the Twin Cities band came together seven years ago.

“We started off just improvising and messing around, not really intending to put a band together,” Felix says. “But it was usually the same people messing around together, so it made sense just to put a band together.”

Felix says the spelling of the band’s name, derived from the Latin word “haruspec,” meaning “high priest,” is actually a mistake.

“Twinkiejiggles came up with the name, and I horribly misspelled it when I made our very first flier, and it just kind of stuck,” Felix says.

With Heiruspecs sprouting from a crop of Twin Cities-based Midwestern hip-hop acts, including artists Atmosphere and Brother Ali, Felix says rap from the Midwest is much different from the impression MTV gives.

“Everybody [in the Midwest] is doing more positive things in their music, which is a contrast to mainstream rap right now,” Felix says. “There’s a lot more thought going into the [Midwest] music.”

Felix says he likes the new Jay-Z and OutKast albums, with his guilty pleasure being Dirty South crap-rappers Three 6 Mafia.

“They’re just so cheesy and bad that it puts a smile on my face. It’s just so comically not real that it’s funny,” Felix says.

Felix says his qualm with mainstream rap is in G-Unit’s 50 Cent.

“I hate that fool. He’s just talking for the sake of talking, and he’s built a career on imaginary beefs with people,” Felix says. “He’s just picking fights with people for attention. The last time hip-hop saw that was between Biggie and Tupac, and they’re both dead.”

In Heiruspecs’ young career, the band has opened for several big name acts, from Jurassic 5 to Busta Rhymes, but Felix says the group’s most interesting gig was opening for a briefly unknown group.

“We opened for The White Stripes at a college in Vermont just before they blew up,” Felix says. “Nobody had any idea who they were and everybody hated them. Everybody was like, ‘What the hell is going on? This chick can’t play drums.’ Literally two weeks later, we were on our way home and our drummer picked up a Rolling Stone and they were on the cover.”

Heiruspecs returns to Ames Monday night for a show at People’s Bar and Grill in support of its upcoming third album, “A Tiger Dancing,” due out in early spring. Although the crowds here may not be what they are at other venues, Felix says he still enjoys contributing to Ames’ virtually non-existent hip-hop scene.

“I just like college towns a lot because there’s a lot of kids who are generally enthusiastic about music, whatever it may be,” Felix says.