Snoop Dogg Joins The A-List, Lends Voice To TomTom GPS Systems, Y'All

Legendary rapper Snoop Dogg joins the (slowly) growing ranks of celebrities that have lent their dulcet tones to TomTom navigation systems.

"Take your next right. Then, in 200 yards, bear left. Yeah, jus' like that."

Snoop Dogg—known as D-O-double-G to some, Calvin Broadus to his moms—is the latest celebrity to lend his voice to TomTom GPS systems.

Wayward drivers who have tired of the cold, calculated, factory-standard robo-woman navigator now have the option of rollin' with the legendary West-Coast rapper. He joins A-listers David Hasselhoff, Kim Cattrall, Dennis "Easy Rider" Hopper, Homer Simpson, and Mr. T in the (apparently) burgeoning novelty-GPS-voiceover marketplace.

Celebrity GPS voices go for $5 to $12 through services like VoiceSkins (tagline: Navigation by the Stars) and Navtones. Users log on to their websites, download the files, and connect the GPS device to their computer for an automatic update. Most files are compatible only with TomTom devices, though David Hasselhoff also works with Garmin products. (Sorry Magellan users—or is it the other way around?)

At startup, the GPS unit prompts the user with a menu of all the navigator files on the device. All of the standard GPS commands ("turn left," "bear right," "recalculating," "you've arrived at your final destination") and most points-of-interest work as they would with the standard navigator, but with all the wit and, um, wisdom that a celebrity brings to the road...or something.

Several services also sell non-celebrity novelty navigators, including dozens of crappy celebrity impressions, cringe-worthy ethnic stereotypes, whorish-sounding women, surfer dudes, unscary monsters, and an old man in a robe who appears to be Zeus, Greek God of Thunder.

PIGTones in particular offers the cheesiest downloads, the kind of stuff that makes prank voicemail prompts sound edgy by comparison. The impressions of George W. Bush, Sean Connery, and Elvis rank among the worst in recorded history. Jamal The Ghetto Pimp, Habib The NYC Cabbie, and Wrong Juan Sombrero all share an "accent," though they supposedly represent three different ethnic stereotypes. Classy and well-executed.

Well, this clearly isn't the golden rope ladder that will save the standalone GPS industry from its spiral into the vortex of irrelevance—these voiceovers will sprout up on GPS-enabled smartphones in no time—but it's a clever (if completely corny) side-business with a captive audience.

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