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Oompa with Bensbeendead and Felecia Cruz

INFO
Friday, July 22 2022
8:00pm
doors at 7:30pm
TICKETS
$10 advance
$15 day of show

SPACE currently requires masks for all event attendees. Please refer to our health and safety policy for more information.


The Metamorphosis Fest headliner returns to SPACE! Oompa is a nationally-acclaimed, Boston-born, poet, rapper, and educator, “who is forever representing the queer, black, orphaned, hood kids n’ them”. She was named one of NPR’s 2020 Slingshot Artists to Watch and her engaging, interactive performing style won her the Boston Music Award for Live Act of the Year in 2019, following her 2018 Unsigned Artist of the Year victory among an unprecedented 12 total nominations. In a 2019 feature, WBUR’s the Artery describes the lyric-focused rapper as having a “natural tenderness with language” and calls her verses “funny…incisive and memorable.” Oompa showed this poetic prowess as the winner of the 2017 Women of the World Poetry Slam and a finalist in the 2016 National Poetry Slam. Following the release of her second album, Cleo, in August of 2019, Oompa sold out The Sinclair and a number of other Boston venues. Since then, she has shared the stage with renowned artists like Charli XCX, 24KGoldn, Tinashe, UMI, and Rico Nasty. Most recently, she headlined the Paradise Rock Club in Boston for her album release show on October 8, 2021

Her latest album, UNBOTHERED was released independently in October 2021 to popular and critical acclaim. This album is joy incarnate. What it feels like, what it sounds like, what it looks like, who it’s for, and, most importantly, how to find and make joy a reality in this life even when presented with so much constant sorrow. This album is Oompa expanding as a human and as an artist. Free of boxes, free of expectations, and free of rules except for those she has laid out for herself.

World traveling creator Felecia Cruz has played over seventeen hundred shows and implemented more than ninety workshops in nine countries. Her sound is a high energy, confidence building mash up of pop, hip-hop and dancehall that you can’t help but sway to. Cruz recently opened for Rah Digga as well as The 3 Chambers Tour (GZA, Ghostface and Raekwon) in Hampton, NH and Portland, ME. Her past opening sets with former group New Fame include KRS-One, Styles P, Rakim, Redman, Talib Kweli, DJ Maseo, Kool Keith, Hannibal Buress, Aceyalone and more. She was a SXSW 2022 official international artist. Her second EP Ease was just released May 3, 2022.

Bensbeendead is a vocalist and producer based out of Portland, Maine. In just over five years, Ben but has quickly become a driving force in the Portland music scene. His style can be described as a dreamy blend of electronic pop and alt r&b laden with airy synths and bubbly percussion. He seeks to comfort the disturbed by producing sonic landscapes that create an escape from daily life and inspire creativity. Putting thoughts into words provides a welcome respite from his anxiety around finding his personal identity and importance in the world at large.

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