Snoop Dogg’s new single from his upcoming Dr. Dre-produced album Missionary takes heavy inspiration from the Police’s 1979 single ‘Message in A Bottle’, featuring a sampled or remixed version of Andy Summers’ guitar line and part of the melody – as well as fresh vocals from former Police frontman Sting.

“Me and Snoop did a recording of ‘Message In A Bottle,’ which he’s called something else,” Sting recently told BBC Radio 2. “I played guitar and I sang on it, but Snoop also sings on this, which is quite a revelation to me.” Sting added that he thought Snoop was “a very nice man.”

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Snoop’s confident vocals are as prominent as his rapping on the track (produced by Dre and ICU), and Sting fits seamlessly alongside him, absorbing some of Snoop’s flow into his own. At one point, the two singers even nailed a harmony together.

“We hung out and we chilled,” Snoop said recently of his time with Sting. “Like a kid who has a crush on someone as a singer, and you get a chance to meet them and they give you everything you expected. That’s what happens to me all the time: I meet people I’ve always wanted to meet and they’re everything I wanted them to be.”

Missionary will be released on December 13th, a date that also marks the 30th anniversary of Snoop Dogg’s Dre-produced debut, Doggy style. “We were kids back then” Dre said in August. “Snoop might have been 18 or 19 years old, and I think I’m six years older than him… This one is going to show another level of maturity with his lyrics and with my music.”

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