The heart and soul of Santigold is vivacious frontwoman Santi White. White and John Hill, her former counterpart from ska-punk band Stiffed, use their backgrounds as production-savvy musicians to fuse punk, reggae, rock and electro.

The two paired up with a crew of likeminded musicians — Switch, Spank Rock’s Naeem, XXXchange, Steel Pulse guitarist Clifford Moonie Pusey and M.I.A., to push their music to its full potential. The full-length album, Santigold, was released in January of 2008 on Downtown Records, and in 2008, Santigold won the NME Award for best breakthrough artist and was nominated for a Q Award.

Several Santigold songs have been featured in commercial campaigns; “Creator” and “Lights Out” for Bud Light Lime, and “Say Aha” and “L.E.S. Artistes” for Ford Flex. Santi has collaborated with a multitude of respected artists, and has written for a number of high-profile projects including the title track on GZA’s album Beneath the Surface, Lily Allen’s “Littlest Things”, the lead single from Ashlee Simpson’s record Bittersweet World, and the hit song “Brooklyn Go Hard” from Jay-Z and Kanye West. Santi also collaborated with Julian Casablancas of The Strokes and N.E.R.D.’s Pharrell Williams on the single “My Drive Through” which was created for Converse’s centennial.