The American rapper-turned-rasta roars and rails against assertions made by the Jamaican reggae great.

NEW YORK-– In the latest twist of an ongoing production that might seem more fittingly performed against the backdrop of Saint-Saens’ “Carnival of the Animals” than a reggae beat, American hip-hop star Snoop Lion (formerly Snoop Dogg) has pounced on Jamaican reggae legend Bunny Wailer as the feud between the two entertainers shows no sign of abating.

The altercation had its genesis when Snoop Dogg changed his name to Snoop Lion and claimed that he had converted to the Rastafarian faith after a visit to Jamaica last year. The gangsta rap pioneer went so far as to say that he felt like a reincarnation of reggae icon Bob Marley.

As developments unfolded, reggae luminary Bunny Wailer – an original member of the immortal Bob Marley and the Wailers – decided he had a bone to pick with the Dogg.

According to a report carried early this year by celebrity website TMZ, Wailer took issue with Dogg/Lion’s documentary “Reincarnated”, which depicts Snoop’s immersion in the Rasta culture as he recorded his first reggae album during his trip to Jamaica.

Wailer claimed that Snoop had engaged in “outright fraudulent use of Rastafari Community’s personalities and symbolism” and had failed to meet “contractual, moral and verbal commitments”.

The American recording star also ignited the wrath of leaders of the Rastafari Millennium Council, who are said to have fired off an indignant seven-page letter to Dogg/Lion.

TMZ reported that the offended parties wanted Dogg to stop using the name Lion and issue a public apology after he paid “the financial and moral support” they claimed he had promised them.

Snoop Lion & Bunny Wailer

The plot thickened in March when Wailer asserted that the American had breached a contract when footage of a 2012 meeting between the two in Kingston appeared in Snoop’s documentary. The get-together “should not have been filmed,” the reggae great maintained.

Snoop Lion responded to Wailer’s remarks with an outraged roar in an April 24 interview posted on rollingstone.com.

“In the nineties, he [Bunny Wailer] could have never tried that because I’d have slapped the dogs**t out of his old a*s,” Snoop was quoted as saying.

“How dare you? After all I’ve done for you? How dare you? You wasn’t the s**t in the Wailers. You was just one of them: Bob, Peter Tosh, then you. They dead mean more than you do alive. You get the energy?

“When it should have been, ‘Hey, this brother is putting me back in the light; I could possibly get on the road with him, be on his album, eat again. Let me get in line. This is Snoop Dogg; he’s already a star.’ It should have been, play along with me as opposed to stick me up. I’m gonna give you what you worth, but you not gonna stick me up,” Snoop Lion’s ferocious outburst reportedly continued.

When quizzed by Rolling Stone about Wailer’s accusation of a contract breach, Snoop’s hackles went up a notch.

“What’s he referring to? It can’t be nothing because he’s not on my record. What could it be? To me, a lot of these guys from back in the days have been done wrong, and they think younger artists owe them, because we’ve been paid and treated right. It’s not my fault if you haven’t been paid. I just met you. I’ve done nothing but put you in a place where the world knows who you are,” he snarled.

In closing, Snoop pointed out that Bob Marley’s family, including his widow Rita and sons Rohan, Stephen and Damian, have endorsed his conversion to Rastafari.

“If Bob’s kids and his wife welcome they arms and say, ‘you one of the Marleys’, then who is Bunny Wailer to say anything?” he demanded.