Tha Blue Carpet Treatment
Eighth studio album by Snoop Dogg, released in 2006.
Tha Blue Carpet Treatment is the eighth studio album by West Coast hip-hop recording artist Snoop Dogg, released on November 21, 2006, by Doggystyle Records and Geffen Records. It debuted at number 5 on the US Billboard 200, selling 264,000 copies in its first week, and received generally positive reviews from music critics. The album is one of Snoop Dogg's favorite albums of his discography.
Quick Facts
- Artist
- Snoop Dogg
- Released
- 21 November 2006
- Recorded
- November 2005 – September 2006
- Genre
- West Coast hip-hop
- gangsta rap
- G-funk
- Label
- Doggy Style, Geffen
Facts from the source article.
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Intrology (featuring George Clinton) | Calvin Broadus, Jr., George Clinton, Kevin Gilliam | 1:59 |
| 2 | Think About It | Broadus, Jr., Bryan Fryzel | 3:37 |
| 3 | Crazy (featuring Nate Dogg) | Broadus, Jr., Nathaniel Hale, Farid Nassar | 4:26 |
| 4 | Vato (featuring B-Real) | Broadus, Jr., Louis Freese, Chad Hugo, Pharrell Williams | 4:44 |
| 5 | That's That Shit (featuring R. Kelly) | Broadus, Jr., Robert Kelly, Dominick Lamb, Stanley Benton, Tracy Curry | 4:17 |
| 6 | Candy (featuring E-40, MC Eiht, Goldie Loc, Daz Dillinger, and Kurupt) | Broadus, Jr., Earl Stevens, Aaron Tyler, Keiwan "Goldie Loc" Spillman, Delmar Arnaud, Ricardo Brown, Ricardo Thomas | 4:48 |
| 7 | Get a Light (featuring Damian Marley) | Broadus, Jr., Damian Marley, Timothy Mosley, Floyd Nathaniel Hills | 3:41 |
| 8 | Gangbangin' 101 (featuring The Game) | Broadus, Jr., Jayceon Taylor, Terrace Martin | 4:01 |
| 9 | Boss' Life (featuring Akon / 1) | Broadus, Jr., Aliaune Thiam, Andre Young | 3:22 |
| 10 | LAX (featuring Ice Cube) | Broadus, Jr., O'Shea Jackson, Gilliam, Roger Troutman | 3:21 |
| 11 | 10 Lil' Crips | Broadus, Jr., Hugo, Williams | 3:15 |
| 12 | Round Here | Broadus, Jr., Young, Dido Armstrong | 3:42 |
| 13 | A Bitch I Knew | Broadus, Jr., David "Rhythum D" Weldon | 4:32 |
| 14 | Like This (featuring Western Union and LaToiya Williams) | Broadus, Jr., Terence "Western Union" Harden, LaToiya Williams, Priest Brooks, Damani Washington | 3:56 |
| 15 | Which One of You (featuring Nine Inch Dix) | Broadus, Jr., David "Jelly Roll" Drew, Donald Smith, Lenton Hutton, Brooks, Christopher "Brody" Brown, Kenneth "Bam" Alexander, Lamar Edwards, Larrance Dopson, Charles "Uncle Chucc" Hamilton | 3:32 |
| 16 | I Wanna Love You (featuring Akon) | Broadus, Jr., Thiam | 2:59 |
| 17 | Psst! (featuring Jamie Foxx) | Broadus, Jr., Eric Bishop | 2:59 |
| 18 | Beat Up on Yo Pads | Broadus, Jr., Denaun Porter, Desmond "DJ DDT-Da Busta" Travis | 2:57 |
| 19 | Don't Stop (featuring Warzone and Kurupt) | Broadus, Jr., Tyler, Craig "Kam" Miller, Spillman, R. Brown, Chris "THX" Goodman | 3:22 |
| 20 | Imagine (featuring Dr. Dre and D'Angelo) | Broadus, Jr., Young, Michael Archer, Mark Batson | 4:42 |
| 21 | Conversations (featuring Stevie Wonder) | Broadus, Jr., Stevie Wonder, Mark Jordan | 3:38 |
| Total length | 77:50 | ||
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Got My Own (featuring Swizz Beatz) | |
| 2 | Wanna Be (featuring Nate Dogg and Young Jeezy) | |
| 3 | That's That (Remix) (featuring Nas and R Kelly) | |
| 4 | Imagine (Remix) (featuring D'Angelo, Dr. Dre, and Ja Rule) | |
| 5 | Do It | |
| 6 | Life (featuring The Emotions) |
Track listing from the source article.
Did You Know?
- The song "Round Here" uses the same sample of Dido's "Thank You" that Eminem used for his track "Stan"; Snoop Dogg was unaware of this when recording.
- "L.A.X." contains a sample of "More Bounce to the Ounce" by Zapp, which Snoop Dogg had previously used on his 1996 track "Snoop Bounce" from the album Tha Doggfather.
- Three songs on the album—"That's That Shit," "Boss' Life," and "Imagine"—had lyrics ghostwritten by former Aftermath Entertainment artists Stat Quo and The D.O.C.
Background
The album title references the red carpet of formal events, with blue alluding to Snoop Dogg's affiliation with the Crips gang. The cover underwent several revisions: an initial concept featured a cartoon dog displaying Crip signals on a blue bandana-patterned carpet, designed by his cousin Darryl Daniel. An updated version, shown on the Late Show with David Letterman's 13th Anniversary Special on August 30, 2006, parodied the Hollywood Sign with the text "LONG BEACH."
Geffen posted the final cover on their website. Snoop Dogg aimed to return Long Beach to its gangsta roots, telling MTV.com he went "right back to the 'hood" and took the album "back to the basics." Pharrell stated that the music video for "Vato" would address violence between African Americans and Hispanics in Los Angeles and call for racial unity. The album was promoted with Tha Blue Carpet Treatment Mixtape, hosted by DJ Skee, DJ Whoo Kid, and DJ Drama, which contained tracks cut from the final album and was released a few weeks before the studio album.
Recording
Snoop Dogg worked on the album for nine months, collaborating with R. Kelly on the song "That's That" produced by Nottz, and with Ice Cube, Pharrell, D'Angelo, Akon, Nate Dogg, B-Real, and Stevie Wonder. Dr. Dre produced several tracks and rapped a verse on "Imagine," marking his first production for Snoop Dogg since 2000. The song "I Wanna Fuck You" with Akon was released as a cleaned-up version titled "I Wanna Love You" for radio. Recorded tracks that did not make the final cut include "Wannabes" featuring Young Jeezy and Nate Dogg, "Smokin' Smokin' Weed" featuring Ray J, Slim Thug, Shorty Mack, and Nate Dogg, and "Put This Thang on You" featuring Ne-Yo; two of these appeared on a bonus disc.
Critical reception
Tha Blue Carpet Treatment received generally positive reviews. IGN called it "one of Snoop's strongest efforts in a long time." AllHipHop, About.com, and AllMusic gave it 4 out of 5. Ryan Dombal of Entertainment Weekly wrote that the album finds Snoop "refocused and reunited with Dr. Dre on four tracks" and gave it a B+.
Vibe magazine stated the album "stands as a strong statement from a veteran still pushing his artistic boundaries." Blender described it as "a throwback to his trunk-rattling G-funk heyday" with a grade of 3.5 out of five stars. XXL wrote that "Snoop's lyrical fire seems resurrected." Christian Hoard of Rolling Stone noted that the production is "pretty hot, with high-def beats that range from tricked-out funk to dark, tense bounce."
Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club called the album "shockingly good" and said it "sounds more like a loose, revitalized follow-up to Doggystyle," attributing this partly to Dr. Dre's reappearance. He highlighted "Candy (Drippin' Like Water)" as exemplifying the album's ethos of "delirious excess."
Track listing
The album includes tracks such as "Intrology," which samples "Dirt off Your Shoulder" by Jay-Z; "Think About It," sampling "I Need You" by The Impressions; "Crazy," containing interpolations of "She's Strange" by Cameo; "That's That Shit," sampling "The Bath" by Nile Rodgers; "Candy (Drippin' Like Water)," sampling "9th Wonder (Blackploitism)" by Digable Planets and interpolating "Candy" by Cameo; "Boss' Life," sampling "If Tomorrow Never Comes" by The Controllers and "Everybody Rise" by Busta Rhymes; "LAX," sampling "Going Back to Cali" by The Notorious B.I.G. and "More Bounce to the Ounce" by Zapp; "Round Here," sampling "Thank You" by Dido; "Like This," sampling "Coffy Sauna" by Roy Ayers; and "Conversations," sampling "Have a Talk with God" by Stevie Wonder.
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