Backstage Pass

They pulled him back in.

After Snoop Dogg got out of the gangsta rap cliche business with 2004's "R&G: Rhythm & Gangsta" (Geffen), it looked like he was taking his career in a different direction, with the unusual, inventive hits "Drop It Like It's Hot" and "Signs."

But Snoop's latest, "The Blue Carpet Treatment" (Doggystyle/Geffen) is a hazy mess - part pro-gang propaganda, part heal-the-world sentiments, part pop star, part anti-hero. It's hard to explain why the pro-prayer "Conversations," featuring a religious, soul-funk appearance by Stevie Wonder, is put on the same album as "10 Lil' Crips," which promotes the gang, or "Don't Stop," which glamorizes lawlessness.

The musical choices are just as strange, especially picking the incredibly lame "That's That," which features a nonsensical R. Kelly, as a single, when the super-catchy "Pssst," featuring Jamie Foxx, is sitting around. Snoop squanders a hot beat from Timbaland on the throwaway "Get a Light," and "Beat Up on Yo Pads," an ode to youth football, sounds like a "Saturday Night Live" parody. Yet he sounds great on his pair of songs with Akon - the hit "I Wanna Love You" and "Boss' Life."

Forget the blue carpet. The "Treatment" Snoop really needs is one that gets his head straight.

("The Blue Carpet Treatment," in stores today; grade: C)

Listen to "Blue Carpet Treatment" here