The action alternates between performance clips and hardcore sex, all to the persistent, expletive-peppered beat of Snoop's own raps. Interspersed at random are the video's most original segments -- plugs for Snoop's "Freak Line" phone sex service and a little fashion show for his new K-Nine clothing line. Clearly, the entrepreneurial Snoop is aiming to go large, Puff Daddy-style.

Well, except in one key area. You've probably seen this or that rock or rap "performance video." How strange that the ostensible star here refuses to perform himself -- the guy works the room without ever working his mojo. How uncharacteristically modest of him.

Snoop keeps his fly perpetually zipped, and doesn't even engage in any ass-grabbing, despite the abundant buffet of booty right there in his face. Snoop is a genial Mr. Roarke, more interested in his guests' pleasure than his own. He provides so many amenities his crew has to multitask -- they play Game Boy while they get blowjobs.

Despite the novelty of its hybridism, however, most of "Doggystyle" resembles either a typical "Total Request Live" clip taken a little too far or a rather standard adult flick with a fresher beat. The standard templates of both forms come heavily into play -- the music segments feature baggy-shirted rappers in mansion splendor, surrounded by acolytes who nod sagely and make the "what he said about the bitches" face. The only difference is that here the rump-shaking hos who surround them are nude, cavorting with degrees of enthusiasm ranging from happily uninhibited to aggressively self-fondling to just-about-to-pass-out languor.

The hardcore scenes, meanwhile, follow the formula written in stone in the porn bible -- girl-boy, girl-girl, threesome, yadda yadda yadda. All commit the cardinal sin of adult video -- going on and on longer than a Florida recount.

Only the soundtrack moves apace, even if it does present a challenge to the mood. Appalling as most porn scores are, they're at least not terribly distracting. Snoop and company's raps, however, demand attention. And while he may be a master of rhymes, Snoop's not exactly Barry White. "Doggystyle" has the jovial air of a pot-fogged weekend party, but that doesn't make it erotic. Just because the guests are getting it on to the strains of "Wash my clothes, you ho, clean up the kitchen, suck me dry, let's get high, and do the dishes," it doesn't mean the viewer might want to do likewise.

"Doggystyle" isn't particularly clever or artistic or even sexy. What it is, however, is undeniably dirty, which is really the whole point anyway. Smug, clean-cut little bastards like N'Sync may rule the charts, but Snoop's still got all the pot and the pussy. He's a bad boy in a sanitary, Making the Band world, a guy who chooses the outlaw allure of sex and drugs over Pepsi sponsorship or duets with Elton John.

"How about that? Snoop Dogg went porno," he declares with satisfaction as the festivities wind down, adding generously, "You know you're all welcome inside the Dogghouse any time you want."

The effort may win neither MTV nor AVN awards, but it's the nicest offer nastiness-deprived music fans have had in a dogg's age.

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