If you think the man previously known as Snoop Dogg has already accomplished enough during the 20 or so years he’s been rapping (and now, er, Rasta-ing), voguing as a hip-hop fashion icon, and all the while unapologetically blazing, think again.Snoop, in collaboration with video game studio Echo Peak, has expanded his repertoire into the world of gaming. The rapper has been hard at work on the new video game, Way of the Dogg, which will soon be released and made available for download on your iPhone, Android, or Xbox live. Though rap and video games have a long history of intermingling even beyond hip-hop run soundtracks—see Wu-Tang’s old-school Playstation game Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style—Way of the Dogg looks to be the most involved attempt yet to cast a rapper as a game’s main character.Snoop hard at work on the soundtrack.In the combat-based game, the player must train as AJ (aka America Jones) alongside the Zen master, Snoop Dogg himself—albeit in a slightly more chiseled form than the IRL rapper. As the city’s best fighter, AJ was once at the top of his game. But he really only cared about two things, “his woman and the fight.” When his lady is tragically murdered, AJ vows to avenge the death of his sweetheart and rid the city of violent street crime. But first, he must “learn the way of the dogg” from Master Snoop a la Ghost Dog.Sensai Snoop giving our hero America Jones the run down, presumably on “the way of the dogg.”The game incorporates rhythm alongside Street Fighter-style urban combat. Fighting is just as much about finding your beat as it is about taking down your opponent. The comic book-style graphics make for a playful scenario of cartoon-like blood splatter, and keep the gaming experience appropriately chill for a Snoop venture.As Snoop Lion would spit: “We at war with the army of haters / And when we kill ’em we just smoke ’em like papers.”C’mon y’all this looks fun. Snoop and Game Director Ciaran Walsh.No details yet on the exact release date, but stayed tuned to Snoop’s Twitter and the game’s official site for the latest details.In other Snoop news, REINCARNATED, a documentary about Snoops transition from “Dogg” to “Lion” hits select theaters on March 15th. Check out the trailer below.@Mlledisser
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