OsamaSon played First Class Fest twice after Nettspend dropped out
The Toronto festival’s co-founders told The FADER how they rebuilt the schedule after multiple artists pulled out days before the event.
File photo: OsamaSon performing at Racket NYC in March 2024. Ninecalling · CC BY 4.0 · Resized for display.
With three days to go before First Class Fest opened in Toronto, Nettspend canceled his set. Che and Black Kray had already withdrawn earlier that week, The FADER reports. Rather than bring in a new act at the last minute, co-founders Leo Strang and Jake Pretorious asked Day 1 headliner OsamaSon to perform a second time.
A fast lineup reset
Strang told The FADER that OsamaSon and Nettspend were among the faces of the current underground scene, so a second OsamaSon set felt like the closest fit. The rapper played a different set built largely around leaked songs from earlier phases of his catalog, before Lucki closed the festival.
Co-founders Leo Strang and Jake Pretorious began organizing the festival in 2022 after working on local shows and an Ontario college tour. By 2026, it had grown into a two-day event. In their FADER interview, they said they want more underground rap shows and more attention for Canadian artists.
