Rapper Gorilla Zoe comes to Lexington

By Haley Wright

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A large crowd stood outside of one of the tallest buildings in downtown Lexington Friday night, as they waited patiently for the chance to see rapper Gorilla Zoe.

Gorilla Zoe, who’s real name is Alonzo Mathis, performed on the 15th floor of the Chase Tower building, which features “Tower on the Main Event Centre,” a venue used for parties and rehearsal dinners made by appointment.

The venue featured two bars, flickering lights, a DJ stage and an opening performance by local DJ Cameron Hardin.  Doors opened at 10 p.m.

Hardin started playing at 10:30 p.m., and Gorilla Zoe’s performance began around midnight.

The artist of hit songs like “Lost” and “What It Is” performed around 16 songs, while donning gold chains and an Andrew Harrison jersey.

Delta Tau Delta members Cameron Magoon and Frank Leggio III worked on getting Gorilla Zoe to come perform in Lexington.  According to Magoon, an integrated strategic communications senior, Gorilla Zoe cost around $5,000 to come perform. Leggio, a business administration and management senior, booked the performance at the Chase Tower building.

Magoon reached out to UK students on campus telling them about the concert. Tickets were $15 per person and there were VIP passes for people to buy as well. Magoon says there were around 500 tickets sold, which means the fraternity earned around $7,500 on tickets.

Magoon said, “We are an SEC school. We never get concerts from artists like other SEC schools do. So we thought getting a rapper to come to our school would be a new thing to try out and see how it goes.”

After the concert people stuck around trying to get pictures with Gorilla Zoe.

“Being from Atlanta I have seen many concerts,” said marketing junior Alex Shepherd. “I thought the concert turned out pretty well for a fraternity to get it together.”

Shepherd said that her favorite part of the concert was when Gorilla Zoe led the “C-A-T-S” chant towards the end of the night. Gorilla Zoe then tweeted “Shout out to #UK #wildcats #bigbluenation” after the concert. Magoon said Gorilla Zoe was a success and there will be more to come from the Delta Tau Delta fraternity.