Brandeis has a reputation for being quiet at concerts. At last year’s SpringFest, headliner Jessie J told the audience that they were “the most well-behaved crowd” she’s ever had. It can seem like Brandeisian concertgoers are more interested in contemplating an artist’s lyrics and musical choices than cutting loose and having fun. But for the roughly 200 people in the Levin Ballroom on Saturday hearing rappers Mick Jenkins and Russ, the stereotype of the Brandeis student was shattered to pieces, as the crowd ate up every second of the strobe-lit, high-volume performances.

Jenkins — the headliner — came to campus after earning national attention for his 2014 mixtape “The Water[s],” a concept album that explored institutional racism, among other themes, and used water as a recurring symbol. His 2015 release “Wave[s]” is a follow-up to “The Water[s],” and both earned critical acclaim upon their releases. Throughout his set, Jenkins prompted the crowd to “Drink more!” to which the listeners responded “Water!” This was a reference to his song “Drink More Water,” which uses water as a symbol for truth.

Russ, an Atlanta-based performer, got his start on SoundCloud and has been steadily rising ever since thanks to his thoughtful, often confessional lyrics paired with fun, bass-heavy beats. “Do It Myself,” a song he performed on the stage, captures his thoughts on his steady rise through the hip-hop scene nicely: “Everyone looking at me confused / Came a long way from 1000 views.”

Before the pros hit the stage, student rappers Marcelo Brociner ’18, Makalani Mack ’16 and Stacy Finley ’15 performed for the crowd, getting students excited while testing out their own lyrics. Finley and Brociner performed under their stage names, Arizona Marty and Celo, respectively. Brociner told the Justice in an interview last week that his lyrics are “closer to 90s hip-hop in the sense that it’s conscious lyricism, but the beats and the sounds are pretty smooth and new at the same time, so it’s a cool mix.” While the crowd cheered for Brociner and the other performers throughout their 20-minute set, one might have thought the three were just performing for each other; they all laughed, applauded and jumped excitedly upon hearing each other’s next rhyme or reference.

By the time Russ took the microphone, the room was starting to fill up, and the crowd was starting to warm up. From the first song, he urged the group to throw their arms in the air and jump around, but it wasn’t until his song “Checked” that the crowd started chanting along to the catchy hook. Russ followed with a slower song about an ex-girlfriend but didn’t lose any energy from the crowd, who started showing a wilder, even silly side — memorably, just as Russ rapped a lyric about smoking marijuana, a large puff of smoke seemed to waft up from part of the audience. By the time the aforementioned “Do It Myself” came around, Russ was dancing and grinning from ear to ear, and the crowd exploded with energy throughout his last rap inspired by events in his own life. The rap had no beat behind it, letting the audience consider and enjoy each of the dense, clever rhymes.

The crowd calmed down a bit during the 30-minute wait between acts for Jenkins to take the stage, but his dazzling energy and strobe-infused opening song quickly won the crowd over to the headliner. Jenkins projected authority and pride throughout his set without sacrificing a laid-back sense of fun, and his strong stage presence captivated the audience. Listeners were treated to a master class in Jenkins’ internal rhymes and complex beats, like this lyric from his song “The Waters” off the album of the same name: “I ain’t trying to rock the boat / but the flow crazy, I paint pictures but they’re not baroque / more Scorsese.” In classic hip hop fashion, the song goes on to show Jenkins’ superiority to other rappers, saying they “don’t tell enough of the truth in the booth / and it’s proof you ain’t fucking with mine, sip.”

Jenkins brought high-octane energy to the room that didn’t let up until the show closed at 11 p.m. Perhaps Brandeis is not as meek as we all thought.