Snoop Dog Blue Carpet Treatment Review

Gang Blues: The Lanky Old Man Still Wants to "Crip," Huh?
Nov 26 '06 (Updated Nov 26 '06)

Author's Product Rating
Product Rating: 3.0

Pros
A few catchy songs; Snoop and Dre have always been a perfect match

Cons
Little or no artistic/personal growth; a lot of filler - album seriously needed editing

The Bottom Line
Tha Blue Carpet Treatment only confirms that there is one word that best describes Snoop Dogg's career - stagnancy

Full Review
Seriously, who really cares about a Snoop Dogg album release anymore? Chances are that no one but his most ardent fans would buy it, and that it’s more or less the same stuff he’s been spitting for the past half-decade and some change. No wonder he’s been going platinum with the consistency of a spinning ceiling fan. Snoop is now at an artistic plateau. This just isn’t the “Deep Cover”/The Chronic/Doggystyle days anymore, when he was on top of the rap world. At 35, Snoop hasn’t exactly aged gracefully. And Tha Blue Carpet Treatment, his eighth studio album and apparently named for the color rocked by his Crip affiliates, is strong proof of that.

At least he’s stopped talking over beats, like he did on his previous outing, 2004’s R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece. Here, it just seems he has a little more energy. Must it be some special weed he’s been smoking? Don’t know, but he rips the throwback soul track of “Think About It” to shreds with a rapid flow, even he really isn’t saying anything. “G@^gb@^gin’ 101” is a collaboration between two opposing gang sides (Snoop is Crip-affiliated while the Game is Blood); and it has a sick harpsichord-driven beat, with the Game – for once – spitting strong lines like “been shot five times, now I bleed Hennessey!” The catchy pop tunes are here, as usual. The Neptunes hook up Snoop and B-Real with a West Coast-flavored sinister track in “Vato”. Nottz and Dr. Dre borrow music from the bathroom scene in Coming to America to create the flute smoothness of the R. Kelly-guested “That’s That S**t”.

Speaking of Dre, he’s on here on more times than previous Snoop albums (at least post-Doggystyle), helping craft two of the best songs here. Even if 45 King had beaten him to it with Eminem’s “Stan,” the good doctor samples a different section of Dido’s “Thank You” in “Round Here” and sprinkles a few piano notes on his beat, thus compensating for Snoop’s regular threats. But it is “Imagine” that takes the prize as the best track in Tha Blue Carpet Treatment. Over a slow creep of snare claps, subtle pianos and thundering strings, Dr. Dre ponders upon a life without hip-hop and ghetto struggle. This must have motivated Snoop a little, for he manages to have a moment of clarity in his jumbled verse: “Imagine if these n***as never saw a color/Would it be peaceful in them streets where n***as kill each other?”

And that’s a big problem with Snoop – his attempt at introspection are half-baked at best. For all this talk about “Vato” being about a call for black/Hispanic unity in Los Angeles, the only evidence of such an alliance is that radio deejay Julio G. and B-Real appear on the track. In fact, the song is really about Snoop retaliating against gang members. Speaking of which, what is up with this “return” to his gangsta roots? When was the last time he was g@^gb@^ging? And how old is he again, like 35? Is he still going to draped in blue colors and taking out marks when he needs the assistance of a walking cane or a wheelchair?

Tha Blue Carpet Treatment is almost devoid of any artistic or personal growth from Snoop. He was never a dexterous rhymer or a thought-provoking lyricist, but by now - fifteen years into his career - there should be some form of change and improvement. Thus it is rather annoying to have to put up with yet more tired sexually explicit tales and sharp misogynistic statements (e.g. the Akon-featured “I Wanna F**k You” and “A B***h I Knew”), a frustratingly flat collabo with Ice Cube despite the “Going Back to Cali” sample (“LAX”); a song that sounds like a Robin Thicke reject (“Which One of You”); Jamie Foxx’s laughable attempt to now rip Prince after kicking Ray Charles to the curb (“Psst!”); or an uninspired remake of Stevie Wonder’s “Have a Talk With God” (“Conversations”). And this lends credence to the theory that Tha Blue Carpet Treatment – which runs at a mind-boggling 78 minutes – should definitely have been edited. Heavily.

Calling Tha Blue Carpet Treatment one of his best in years is hardly a compliment for the Snoop D-O-double G. Most of his albums have hovered around the bad-to-average realm, and he only has one essential album to his name – his first. That’s 1 out of 8, loc. It sure ain’t pretty. Oh well, at least his hardcore fans can prevent him from experiencing career blues with yet another platinum plaque. What a pity.

TRACK LISTING:

1. Intrology
2. Think About It
3. Crazy
4. Vato
5. That’s That S**t
6. Candy
7. Get a Light
8. G@^gb@^gin’ 101
9. Boss’ Life
10. LAX
11. 10 Lil’ Crips
12. Round Here
13. A B***h I Knew
14. Like This
15. Which One of You
16. I Wanna F**k You
17. Psst!
18. Beat Up On Yo Pads
19. Don’t Stop
20. Imagine
21. Conversations