Update: Here is the response from James Ingram, received February 25th, 2011:

“I can tell you that the bulk of Travis’ song was recorded in 2008 prior to his plane crash. There are timestamped and dated files from that time that really would backup the news, but I hope you take my word for it at this point. Hell, I have email chains of rough mixes and such from that time as well. I hate to burst their bubble, but Kontraband seems like they are a little uninformed on this one. On another note, as far as “Let the Drummer Get Wicked”, Travis is not to credit for that, neither is Kontraband, but James Brown. Its a rather famous sample thats been repeated over the years, Public Enemy comes to mind. Its also heavily used by DJ’s due to its breakbeat nature. Using “Let the Drummer Get Wicked” as a title for a FREE mixtape is more of an ode and shout out to people who have done it before. I don’t want to sound like I’m bagging on Kontraband, but I find it almost laughable that they think they have a case here.”

In a later email, Ingram (who was very cordial and cooperative) had this to say:

“I realize I will have a slightly skewed or biased point of view, but I hope the tone of what I said didn’t/doesn’t sound like I’m attacking the band. I’m not trying to bash anyone per se, it just doesn’t add up to me. From a copyright perspective, naming songs similar or even exact phrases really isn’t grounds for infringement either. I could call a new record “The White Album” and the Beatles couldn’t come after me for it. As just an example, the Troggs classic “Wild Thing” and Tone Loc’s “Wild Thing”. Same name, different songs. I’m sure you get the gist of it.
Similar style? I guess so, rapping over drum and live guitars/bass. ”Ripoff”? Not really, the timeframe doesn’t make sense, or the composition for that matter. Different notes, different progression, different lyrics.”
And here is Nate’s response to what Ingram said:
“That’s fine…and accurate about James Brown and Public Enemy, but the finished product is undeniable, and we know what we sent them. We expected somebody to come out and say something from his camp. If they’ve got it timestamped, then great. They can feel free to prove it. Hell of a coincidence, though.
Our case is that we sent it to his management team, who said they didn’t like it and then he comes out 8 months later and releases it? we were on the radio the other day, and well be putting this out soon, but the songs lay on top of each other identically, and have the same fills. Our song was out first, as well. So, they can say whatever they want. We’ve had people writing us that have heard the two and feel the same way.”
So there you go. Now you have both sides of the story. The rest of this post is as it appeared when originally published.