When turn-by-turn navigation started sounding a lot more like a West Coast mixtape
In an era where digital voices were becoming increasingly robotic and indistinguishable, one man stepped forward to bring levity, swagger, and repeated use of the word “izzle” to your morning commute. That man was Calvin Broadus, better known as Snoop Dogg. And yes, in 2010, he provided voice navigation for a GPS system.
The collaboration came courtesy of TomTom, one of the more prominent GPS manufacturers of the time. TomTom had launched a program allowing users to download celebrity voices to read their driving directions aloud. Naturally, Snoop Dogg joined the likes of Darth Vader and Homer Simpson—not characters, mind you, but respectable voices in the cultural landscape—because apparently, having Snoop calmly tell you to “turn left in 500 feet, fo’ shizzle” was something the world didn’t know it needed.
The project wasn’t a parody, nor was it performed with a wink. Snoop’s GPS directions were delivered in full earnestness, with his signature cadence, peppered with characteristically relaxed encouragement. Avoiding high-speed chases and obeying traffic regulations became almost enjoyable when your route was narrated by the same man who once quietly redefined the G-Funk era.
Among the commonly heard gems from the navigation pack were: “Keep it straight, playboy,” and “You’re almost there, nephew—just keep it pimpin’.” The experience was less about raw efficiency and more about feeling like your uncle—a world-famous hip-hop icon uncle—was in the passenger seat, making sure you didn’t miss your exit on the 405.
The downloadable voice package came with response options like, “You have reached your destination, mane. Now go get it,” which significantly outperformed the default “You have arrived” in terms of style points. It was also the first time drivers had to fight the urge to high-five their navigation system at the end of a trip.
Snoop, for his part, approached the gig with legendary calm. When asked why he lent his voice to satellite-based driving instructions, he simply responded that he wanted to “make driving real cool, ya dig?” TomTom confessed a notable uptick in sales following the release of the Snoop voice pack, with one corporate spokesperson admitting that they had to “heavily revise” their internal expectations for what consumers considered a practical driving feature.
Critics were quick to point out certain potential downsides, namely that instructions occasionally meandered into unexpected freestyle territory, and there were frequent pauses to deliver completely unrelated facts (“Fun fact: I once cooked with Martha Stewart. Keep left.”).
The GPS voice isn’t widely available anymore—it quietly faded after the smartphone deathblow to dedicated GPS devices—but recordings still circulate on YouTube, where fans have immortalized the only known instance of a navigation system advising users to “merge onto the freeway, nice and easy, like you’re sliding into the beat.”
In conclusion, there was indeed a time when the intersection of rap and road safety was not just imagined, but actively implemented. And it sounded exactly the way you’d hope it would.