Tha Blue Carpet Treatment

Tha Blue Carpet Treatment
Studio album by Snoop Dogg
Released	November 21, 2006
Recorded	2005–06
Genre	West Coast hip hop Gangsta rap G-Funk
Length	77:50
Label	Geffen
Producer	1500 or Nothin' Akon Battlecat Brainz Chris "THX" Goodman Danja DJ DDT-Da Busta DJ Pooh Dr. Dre Fredwreck Frequency Jamie Foxx Mark Batson Mr. Porter N8 Nottz Rhythum D Rick Rock Soopafly Stevie Wonder Terrace Martin The Neptunes Timbaland
Snoop Dogg chronology
R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece (2004) Tha Blue Carpet Treatment (2006) Ego Trippin' (2008)
Singles from Tha Blue Carpet Treatment
"Vato" Released: August 15, 2006 "I Wanna Love You" Released: September 14, 2006 "That's That" Released: October 10, 2006 "Candy (Drippin' Like Water)" Released: December 12, 2006 "Boss' Life" Released: April 10, 2007

Tha Blue Carpet Treatment is the eighth studio album by American West Coast hip hop artist Snoop Dogg; it was released on November 21, 2006, by Geffen Records. Production for the album took place during 2005 to 2006 at several recording studios and was handled by Dr. Dre, The Neptunes, Battlecat, DJ Pooh, Timbaland, Danja, Mark Batson, Terrace Martin and Mr. Porter, among others.

The album debuted at number 5 on the US Billboard 200, selling 264,000 copies in its first week.^[1] Upon its release, Tha Blue Carpet Treatment received generally positive reviews from music critics.

Background

The phrase Tha Blue Carpet Treatment is the album's title references for the red carpet which were used at formal events. The blue color refers to Snoop Dogg's affiliation with the Crip gang, who often wear blue than the red for their rival gang, the Bloods. The album cover has undergone several revisions. In August 2006, the first concept was revealed on his website, which features a cartoon dog (representing Snoop Dogg) displaying Crip gang signals while standing on a blue carpet patterned-like bandana. This design has been used, it would have been the third of Snoop Dogg's album covers to use the cartoon likeness of the rapper that was designed by his cousin Darryl Daniel. The updated version of his cover artwork was shown on the Late Show with David Lettermans 13th Anniversary Special on August 30, 2006, and it featured a parody of the famous Hollywood Sign, which instead read "LONG BEACH". It changed to its current version. Geffen posted this as the final cover for the album on their website.^[2]

On this album, the direction was for him as a Long Beach, California native to take it back to his gangsta roots. The rapper told MTV.com about allowing him to embrace his true nature with this album; as he stated, "I went right back to the 'hood", he said of his album's production. "I took it back to the basics. I've been making a lot of pop songs, lot of R&B songs. Songs that may have made my fans feel like I wavered from what I was naturally accustomed to doing. But I'm an entertainer and I entertain people and that's what I was feeling at the time. But right now, I'm feeling like going right back to the 'hood". Pharrell said the rapper's music video, "Vato" will not only show his gangsta side, but will also tackle the issue of violence between African Americans and Hispanics at Los Angeles, California and call for racial unity. Snoop Dogg would teamed up with well-known DJs from the West, the East, and the South and released Tha Blue Carpet Treatment Mixtape, which was hosted by DJ Skee, DJ Whoo Kid and DJ Drama. It contained all the rumoured tracks that had been cut from the final track listing of his studio album. It was released a few weeks before the official album came out.^[3]

The track titled "Think About It" was composed by Frequency in his dorm room one and a half year prior to this album, while he was a student in Virginia. The material was passed to Mike Chavez of Geffen Records who gave it to Snoop Dogg. Snoop Dogg uses the track to show his older son– who he had not chosen him as the favorite hip-hop artist when being asked– that he can still be an old school gangster rapper regarding his style if he wants to.^[4][5] The track titled "Imagine" which was slated to be featured on Busta Rhymes' album The Big Bang. Busta Rhymes stating in several interviews, before the release of The Big Bang, that the sample for "Imagine" was still trying to be cleared. Busta Rhymes stated that he was not sure that the sample would be cleared on time for his album's release, so it had to be excluded from his album. With the sample not being cleared at the time, and it is presumable that the song was given to Snoop Dogg for his album. It was recorded with verses by Kam and Snoop Dogg (in different from the album version) while playing during TBCT Listening party.^[6] Although Busta Rhymes released the remix to "Imagine", it is presumable that his "remix" when it was actually the intended original version which did not make it on the release of The Big Bang. With artists such as Nas, Adil Omar, Ja Rule and Black-Ty, where each one of them did their freestyles on this track.^[7]

Music

"Which One of You" was recorded during the album sessions at its process with the group N.V. which is running by producing team 1500 or Nothin'.^[7] The song "Round Here" samples from the same sample on the song "Thank You" performed by Dido, which Eminem was using for his track, titled Stan; therefore Snoop Dogg wasn't aware about this matter when he was making the record, during its recording sessions.^[7] The song "L.A.X." contains a sample of "More Bounce to the Ounce" performed by Zapp, which Snoop Dogg had already used once on one of his earlier track, titled "Snoop Bounce" from Tha Doggfather. The songs "That's That Shit", "Boss' Life" and "Imagine" has lyrics ghostwritten from a former Aftermath Entertainment artists Stat Quo (Benton, S.) and The D.O.C. (Curry, T.).

Recording

Snoop Dogg told Billboard, that he was working on this album, Tha Blue Carpet Treatment, for nine months. He has collaborated with the likes of R. Kelly on the biggest song on the album, titled "That's That" produced by Nottz and other featured on the album Ice Cube, Pharrell, D'Angelo, Akon, Nate Dogg, B-Real (of Cypress Hill) and even Stevie Wonder. He also confirmed that Dr. Dre had a big input on this album, producing several tracks and even rapping a verse on the track, "Imagine". Dr. Dre hadn't produced any Snoop Dogg tracks since 2000. He also did I Wanna Fuck You with Akon but had to release a cleaned up version for radio play called I Wanna Love You.

Other songs recorded for this album didn't make the final cut, including "Wannabes" featuring Young Jeezy and Nate Dogg; produced by DJ Quik, "Smokin' Smokin' Weed" featuring Ray J, Slim Thug, Shorty Mack and Nate Dogg, and "Put This Thang on You" featuring Ne-Yo, only two of these ( except on You Put This Thang ) are released in disc two that is, in the disc of bonus tracks.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(70/100)[8]
Review scores
Source	Rating
About.com	[9]
AllHipHop	(8/10)[10]
Allmusic	[11]
The A.V. Club	B+ [12]
Okayplayer	[13]
Pitchfork Media	(7.5/10) [14]
Robert Christgau	[15]
Rolling Stone	[16]
USA Today	[17]
XXL	(XL) [18]

Tha Blue Carpet Treatment received generally positive reviews from music critics. The album maintained generally positive reviews with IGN calling it "one of Snoop's strongest efforts in a long time, with the beats, rhymes, and guests all complimenting the Doggfather with grand immediacy." It received a 4 out of 5 from Allhiphop.com, About.com and Allmusic. Ryan Dombal for Entertainment Weekly wrote that "Blue Carpet finds him refocused and reunited with Dr. Dre on four tracks. The two get nostalgic on standout 'Imagine'." - Grade: B+^[19] Vibe magazine wrote that "Tha Blue Carpet Treatment stands as a strong statement from a veteran still pushing his artistic boundaries."^[8] Blender wrote that the album is "A throwback to his trunk-rattling G-funk heyday." - Grade: 3.5 out of five stars.^[8] XXL wrote that "Snoop's lyrical fire seems resurrected, as he delivers arguably his most consistently scorching work post-Doggystyle."^[18]

Christian Hoard for Rolling Stone wrote that Snoop's eighth LP doesn't do much to break the trend. The production is pretty hot, with high-def beats that range from tricked-out funk (Dr. Dre's "Boss's Life") to dark, tense bounce (the excellent Neptunes-produced "Vato"). The radio-friendly ups—the R. Kelly feature "That's That Shit"—balance out brawny head-nodders like "Gangbangin 101." Snoop sounds great dropping streams of consonants on "Think About It," and few rappers could make a minimalist "Drop It Like It's Hot"-style cut like "Candy (Drippin' Like Water)" sound so singular.

Nathan Rabin for The A.V. Club reviewed the album and wrote that "Snoop has always been able to knock out infectious radio singles, but his albums generally strand a few knockout songs amid oceans of lazy filler, opportunist trend-hopping, and derivative, second-rate G-funk. Sleepy, anticlimactic recent reunion albums from Dogg Pound and 213 (Snoop, Warren G, and Nate Dogg) failed to rouse Snoop out of his longstanding professional funk. So why does Snoop's shockingly good The Blue Carpet Treatment sound more like a loose, revitalized follow-up to Doggystyle? Dr. Dre's reappearance certainly doesn't hurt. Dre has always brought out the best in Snoop, and his presence seems to have reignited Snoop's passion and hunger. No track better exemplifies the disc's ethos of delirious excess than "Candy (Drippin' Like Water)", an insanely catchy candy-coated R&B song with clever nods to hyphy (E-40 and producer Rick Rock) and retro jazz-rap (check out that crazy Digable Planets sample!), plus guest raps from a small army of past-their-prime gangstas. When faced with a choice, Snoop here inevitably chooses all of the above. So Treatment gives listeners Dr. Dre and The Neptunes, The Game and Ice Cube, red-hot polygamy enthusiast Akon and old standby Nate Dogg, George Clinton and Stevie Wonder, gangsta shit, pimp shit, and at least one song encouraging pee-wee football players to go hard or go home. With his lush Blue Carpet Treatment, Snoop Dogg finally seems intent on building and expanding his musical legacy, rather than merely coasting on it.^[20]

Commercial performance

Tha Blue Carpet Treatment debuted at number 5 on the US Billboard 200, selling 264,000 copies in its first week.^[21] On the Nielsen SoundScan annual "Best Sellers Top 100" rankings when the album was listed 97th with the 2006 year-end catalog closing sales number of 637,000 copies despite having been released in mid-November and its sales data is accumulated for only one and a half months.

As of June 2015, the album had sales 1,139,000 copies in the United States.^[22]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Intrology" (featuring George Clinton)	Calvin Broadus, Jr. George Clinton Kevin Gilliam Tim Mosley	Battlecat	1:59
2.	"Think About It"	Broadus, Jr. Bryan Fryzel	Frequency	3:37
3.	"Crazy" (featuring Nate Dogg)	Broadus, Jr. Nathaniel Hale Farid Nassar	Fredwreck	4:26
4.	"Vato" (featuring B-Real)	Broadus, Jr. Louis Freese Chad Hugo Pharrell Williams	The Neptunes	4:44
5.	"That's That Shit" (featuring R. Kelly)	Broadus, Jr. Stanley Benton Tracy Curry Robert Kelly	Nottz	4:17
6.	"Candy (Drippin' Like Water)" (featuring E-40, MC Eiht, Goldie Loc & Tha Dogg Pound)	Broadus, Jr. Delmar Arnaud Ricardo Brown Keiwan Spillman Earl Stevens Ricardo Thomas Aaron Tyler	Rick Rock	4:48
7.	"Get a Light" (featuring Damian Marley)	Broadus, Jr. Floyd Hills Damian Marley Mosley	Timbaland Danja	3:41
8.	"Gangbangin' 101" (featuring The Game)	Broadus, Jr. Terrace Martin Jayceon Taylor	Terrace Martin	4:01
9.	"Boss' Life" (featuring Akon^1)	Broadus, Jr. Hale Andre Young	Dr. Dre	3:22
10.	"LAX" (featuring Ice Cube)	Broadus, Jr. Gilliam O'Shea Jackson Roger Troutman	Battlecat	3:21
11.	"Lil' Crips"	Broadus, Jr. Hugo P. Williams	The Neptunes	3:15
12.	"Round Here"	Broadus, Jr. Dido Armstrong Young	Dr. Dre	3:42
13.	"A Bitch I Knew"	Broadus, Jr. Gilliam David Weldon T. Anderson	Rhythum D Battlecat	4:32
14.	"Like This" (featuring Western Union & LaToiya Williams)	Broadus, Jr. Priest Brooks Terence Harden Damani Washington	Soopafly	3:56
15.	"Which One of You" (featuring Nine Inch Dix)	Broadus, Jr.	1500 or Nothin'	3:32
16.	"I Wanna Fuck You" (featuring Akon)	Broadus, Jr. Aliaune Thiam	Akon	2:59
17.	"Psst!" (featuring Jamie Foxx)	Broadus, Jr. Eric Bishop	N8 Brainz Jamie Foxx	2:59
18.	"Beat Up on Yo Pads"	Broadus, Jr. Denaun Porter	Mr. Porter DJ DDT-Da Busta	2:57
19.	"Don't Stop" (featuring Warzone & Kurupt)	Broadus, Jr. R. Brown	Chris "THX" Goodman	3:22
20.	"Imagine" (featuring Dr. Dre & D'Angelo)	Broadus, Jr. Mark Batson Young	Dr. Dre Mark Batson	4:42
21.	"Conversations" (featuring Stevie Wonder)	Broadus, Jr. Mark Jordan Stevie Wonder	DJ Pooh Stevie Wonder	3:38
Total length:				77:50

Notes

• ¹ The Australian version features Akon instead of Nate Dogg on the track "Boss' Life".

Sample credits

• "Intrology" contains samples from "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" performed by Jay-Z.
• "Think About It" contains samples from "I Need You" performed by The Impressions.
• "Crazy" contains interpolations of "She's Strange" performed by Cameo.
• "That's That Shit contains samples of "The Bath" performed by Nile Rodgers.
• "Candy (Drippin' Like Water)" contains samples of "9th Wonder (Blackploitism)" performed by Digable Planets; and interpolations of "Candy" by Cameo.
• "Boss' Life" contains samples of "If Tomorrow Never Comes" performed by The Controllers, and "Everybody Rise" performed by Busta Rhymes.
• "LAX" contains samples of "Going Back to Cali" performed by The Notorious B.I.G., and "More Bounce to the Ounce" performed by Zapp.
• "Round Here" contains samples of "Thank You" performed by Dido.
• "Like This" contains samples of "Coffy Sauna" performed by Roy Ayers.
• "Conversations" contains samples of "Have a Talk with God" performed by Stevie Wonder.

Personnel

Credits adapted from Allmusic.^[23]

Akon - vocals, engineer, producer B Real - vocals Bad Lucc - vocals Mark Batson - keyboards, producer Mike Bozzi - assistant Leslie Brathwaite - mixing Paul Bruski - engineer Mike Chav - engineer Ted Chung - A&R, engineer, marketing George Clinton - vocals Erik "Baby Jesus" Coomes - bongos Sean Cruse - bass Damani - vocals Rick DeVarona - assistant DJ DDT - producer DJ Pooh - engineer, mixing, producer, vocal engineer Dr. Dre - vocals, producer, mixing Nate Dogg - vocals Shon Don - engineer E-40 - vocals Lamar Edwards - bass guitar Jamie Foxx - vocals, producer The Game - vocals Abel Garibaldi - engineer Tasha Hayward - hair stylist Josh Houghkirk - assistant Richard Huredia - mixing Ice Cube - vocals Mauricio Iragorri - engineer, mixing Julio G - vocals, interlude

Kam - vocals R. Kelly - vocals Kurupt - vocals Anthony Mandler - art direction, design, photography Deborah Mannis-Gardner - sample clearance Damian Marley - vocals MC Eiht - vocals Jeff Meeks - assistant Ian Mereness - engineer Raul Midón - guitar, trumpet Fredwreck - producer 9 Inch Dix - vocals Dawaun Parker - keyboards Orlando Rashid - engineer Robert "Roomio" Reyes - assistant J. Peter Robinson - art direction, design April Roomet - stylist Alexis Seton - mixing Snoop Dogg - primary artist Soopafly - vocals, producer Chris Soper - engineer Chris Starr - background vocals Phil Tan - mixing Timbaland - producer Warzone - vocals LaToiya Williams - vocals Marlon Williams - guitar Barbara Wilson - vocals Stevie Wonder - vocals, producer Young Jeezy - vocals

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2006) Peak position Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[24] 48 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[25] 46 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[26] 86 Canadian Albums (Billboard)[27] 10 Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[28] 28 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[29] 41 French Albums (SNEP)[30] 8 Italian Albums (FIMI)[31] 56 World (UWC)[32] 6 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[33] 18 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[34] 20 Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[35] 53 Polish Albums (ZPAV)[36] 37 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[37] 12 UK Albums (OCC)[38] 47 UK R&B Albums (OCC)[39] 8 US Billboard 200[40] 5 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[41] 2

Year-end charts Chart (2006) Peak Position US Billboard 200[42] 54 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[43] 15 US Top Rap Albums (Billboard)[44] 8

Certifications

Region	Certification	Sales/shipments
Canada (Music Canada)[45]	Diamond	1,000,000
France (SNEP)[46]	Gold	75,000
Russia (NFPF)[47]	{{{award}}}	Expression error: Missing operand for *.
United Kingdom (BPI)[48]	S	Expression error: Missing operand for *.
United States (RIAA)[49]	Gold	1,139,000[22]
^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone ^xunspecified figures based on certification alone

References

1. Hasty, Katie (2006-11-29). "Jay-Z Reclaims His 'Kingdom' With No. 1 Debut". Billboard (Nielsen Business Media, Inc). Retrieved 2009-02-04.
2. "Snoop Dogg : Releases : Tha Blue Carpet Treatment". Interscope Records. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
3. MixUnit.com - The World's Largest Hip-Hop Store Archived February 24, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
4. "Frequency Interview". West Coast News Network. dubcnn.com. February 2007. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
5. Diva, Amanda (September 2006). "Snoop Dogg: From the Left Pocket Part 1". AllHipHop. Archived from the original on 20 October 2006.
6. Snoop Dogg: "Imagine" (feat Dr. Dre). YouTube.com. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
7. "Snoop Dogg Interview Part 3". West Coast News Network. dubcnn.com. January 2007. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
8. "Critic Reviews for Tha Blue Carpet Treatment". Metacritic. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
9. Nero, Mark Edward (2006). "Snoop Dogg - Tha Blue Carpet Treatment". About.com. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
10. AllHipHop review Archived October 12, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
11. Jeffries, David. "Snoop Dogg: Tha Blue Carpet Treatment > Review" at AllMusic. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
12. Rabin, Nathan (5 December 2006). "The Blue Carpet Treatment". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
13. "Snoop Dogg: Tha Blue Carpet Treatment". Okayplayer. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
14. Fennessey, Sean (21 November 2006). "Snoop Dogg: Tha Blue Carpet Treatment". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
15. Christgau, Robert. "CG: Snoop Dogg". Robert Christgau.com. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
16. Hoard, Christian (27 November 2006). "Snoop Dogg: Tha Blue Carpet Treatment". Rolling Stone (Straight Arrow). ISSN 0035-791X. Archived from the original on 4 June 2007.
17. USA Today review Archived October 29, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
18. Barone, Matt (2 November 2006). "Snoop Dogg: Tha Blue Carpet Treatment". XXL (New York: Harris Publications) (#87). ISSN 1093-0647. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
19. Dombal, Ryan (24 November 2006). "Tha Blue Carpet Treatment Review". Entertainment Weekly: 109. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
20. http://www.avclub.com/articles/snoop-dogg-the-blue-carpet-treatment,8055/
21. Harris, Chris (November 29, 2006). "Jay-Z Scores Seventh #1 With Kingdom Come Chris Daughtry, Beatles, Snoop, Tupac make top 10 during big sales week.". MTV (Los Angeles). Retrieved May 27, 2013.
22. "Billboard Magazine Match 1, 2008 - pág 25". Prometheus Global Media. Billboard. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
23. "Tha Blue Carpet Treatment – Snoop Dogg : Credits". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved June 23, 2013.
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27. "Snoop Dogg – Chart history" Billboard Canadian Albums Chart for Snoop Dogg.
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30. "Lescharts.com – Snoop Dogg – Tha Blue Carpet Treatment". Hung Medien.
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32. mariah charts for Snoop Dogg
33. "Norwegiancharts.com – Snoop Dogg – Tha Blue Carpet Treatment". Hung Medien.
34. "Charts.org.nz – Snoop Dogg – Tha Blue Carpet Treatment". Hung Medien.
35. "Dutchcharts.nl – Snoop Dogg – Tha Blue Carpet Treatment" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
36. "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLIS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry.
37. "Swisscharts.com – Snoop Dogg – Tha Blue Carpet Treatment". Hung Medien.
38. "Snoop Dogg - Tha Blue Carpet Treatment". June 23, 2013. Retrieved June 23, 2013.
39. "Snoop Dogg - Tha Blue Carpet Treatment R&B Albums".
40. "Snoop Dogg – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Snoop Dogg.
41. "Snoop Dogg – Chart history" Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums for Snoop Dogg.
42. "Best of 2006 – Billboard 200 Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved June 23, 2013.
43. "Best of 2006 – R&B/Hip-Hop Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved June 23, 2013.
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48. "British album certifications – Snoop Dogg – Tha Blue Carpet Treatment". British Phonographic Industry. Enter Tha Blue Carpet Treatment in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select ' in the field By Award. Click Search
49. "American album certifications – Snoop Dogg – Tha Blue Carpet Treatment". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH

External links

• Official track previews
• SnoopDogg.com album information
• THX on Myspace
• Tha Blue Carpet Treatment at Metacritic
• Snoop Dogg - Tha Blue Carpet Treatment (Tha Mixtape)