Santogold Is Now Santigold

Santogold was Santi White, the Brooklyn-based pop singer who made one of last year's best albums and who is just now starting to pop up on A-list rap songs. Santo Gold, on the other hand, is Santo Rigatuso, the Baltimore-based jeweler/filmmaker/huckster who made this infomercial and the no-budget 1985 aliens-fighting-wrestlers movie Blood Circus. You can see how just about anyone would get these two confused, right? I mean, they're basically the same person.

Well, apparently the world isn't big enough for two Santogolds. And now the Santogold you've heard of has changed her stage name. According to a press release, Santi White is now Santigold. She already has a new MySpace page that reflects the change, and the old one has already been taken down. As of right now, her website is still up. But according to her publicist, that her website will soon reflect the change, as will all future pressings of her albums and singles.

The Brooklyn Santogold hasn't yet revealed why she's changed her name, but connect the dots la la la. Last year, Stereogum reported that Santo Rigatuso, who had been calling himself Santo Gold since 1983, had filed a lawsuit against Santogold and her record labels, Downtown Music and Lizard King Records, for the use of the name. On his website, the Baltimore Santo Gold also reports that he's in the process of recording an album called I Am the Real Santo Gold, and he's already posted the title track on YouTube. Sample lyrics: "I don't like my name being stoled / Spent millions on my name, Santo Gold." So there you go. He's spent millions on his name.

The newly christened Santigold, meanwhile, has a few shows coming up:

03-27 Miami, FL - Ultra Music Festival
03-28 Mammoth, CA - Roxy's Chicken Jam
06-12 Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Festival

[Pitchfork Media]