When one of the members of Rae Sremmurd asked the room if Northwestern is “always this lit,” the crowd’s response was mixed.

Nonetheless, hundreds of NU students crowded the dance floor for the southern hip hop act’s set at A&O Ball, co-hosted by For Members Only, on Friday night at the Riviera Theatre in Chicago.

With about 1,800 tickets sold for this year’s Ball, students spent the night jumping and dancing as headliner Rae Sremmurd pumped music out of the speakers and even chucked half-eaten pineapples into the mosh pit.

The duo of brothers Khalif “Swae Lee” Brown and Aaquil “Slim Jxmmi” Brown turned up the heat Friday the moment they hit the stage. The pair opened with “Start A Party,” the crowd bouncing up and down in sync. The brothers sang their hits, too, including “Come Get Her,” “Unlock The Swag,” “No Type” and “This Could Be Us.”

The brothers even got the crowd involved, at one point bringing some students up on stage to dance with the DJ. The duo also whipped water from open bottles at the crowd and criticized Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump before dropping “Up Like Trump.”

“We should’ve enrolled in college here,” Khalif Brown told the audience.

Electronic dance musician Baauer warmed the crowd up before Rae Sremmurd took the stage, combining booming bass drops and strobe lights.

Baauer’s set included spinning hip-hop hits such as Kendrick Lamar’s”M.A.A.D. City” into heavy trap remixes. The DJ closed his set out with “Harlem Shake,” a song that became an international phenomenon after a viral video trend.

A&O co-chair Cory Goldman said the turnout for Baauer was better than for previous years’ opening acts, as students were excited to see him.

“Ball in general was a good show,” the Weinberg senior said. “We hadn’t brought in a DJ like that in a while so that was really exciting. Rae Sremmurd was amazing.”

SESP junior Damilola Arowolaju, FMO’s vice coordinator of external relations, said he thought A&O did a good job of coordinating the event and that he appreciated seeing a crowd of NU students having fun together in one space.

“Everyone did a good job of putting things together,” Arowolaju said. “It was great to see NU students get together and just have a good time.”

This story was updated to include Arowolaju’s position in FMO. 

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