Like they always say, “Those who do not know the past are doomed to remix it.” (Nobody says that.) Here’s the story: DJ Terry Urban wants you to have a mixtape. For free. Downtown Records does not want you to have this mixtape. Despite (and probably because of) the fact it’s free. It’s called Southerngold. The cover plays on Santogold, with Lil Wayne where Santi would be and joint smoke in place of the glitter vomit. The music plays on Santogold too, in the sense that it samples, chops, and slices bits of that album to create a new blueprint, over which Urban’s mixed some of his favorite Southern raps by everyone from Andre 3K and T.I. to Rick Ross and Young Jeezy. He didn’t clear any of the source material, obvs. Now on the eve of distribution, Terry Urban got a C&D from Santi’s Downtown Records. Sound familiar?

Obviously there are copyright issues involved; as Urban points out, also there’s irony to Downtown’s own biggest artist having cachet largely because of a very similar project. Here’s Urban’s unedited plea:

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