A TREAT FOR SNOOP DOGG 'BONES' GIVES RAPPER A CHANCE TO STRETCH OUT AS AN ACTOR.

Byline: Heather Wood Staff Writer

No one's accusing Snoop of dogging it.

The hip-hop pioneer has recently added a pack of other titles to his credits - fashion designer, music industry mogul and film star.

``I just got a lot of energy to give,'' says Snoop Dogg from the road during his just-wrapped Puff, Pass tour. ``Life's short, you know. I'm just trying to do a lot of different things from the conglomerate point of view ... and show people that you can go from nothing into something,'' says the sometime actor who takes top billing for the first time when the horror film ``Bones'' hits theaters today.

While this in-demand Dogg has seen his share of ups and downs during his career, he has through it all remained a unique breed.

In 1992, when 20-year-old Calvin Broadus introduced himself to the world as Snoop Doggy Dogg on the soundtrack to ``Deep Cover'' and Dr. Dre's historic ``The Chronic'' album, he resembled a naive puppy, eager to pounce on the world of hip-hop. But then he went through a pit bull phase, celebrating violence and material excess in his music while denouncing authority and anything or anybody who got in his way.

New tricks?

After one too many close calls (a murder acquittal in 1996, a marijuana bust in 1998 and a wake-up call in 1997 after Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. were both shot to death), Snoop retreated from the spotlight briefly, re-emerging a changed man. He dropped the ``Doggy'' from his name and abandoned his thug-in-your-face image for a kinder, gentler persona.

Sometimes old ways pop up, though. Last Wednesday, Snoop was charged with marijuana possession after officers stopped two of his tour buses for speeding and found about 200 grams of the drug. He was released without incident.

Legal distractions aside, the Grammy-nominated rapper is at the top of his game. Last year he launched Dogg House records, which includes the platinum-selling Tha Eastsidaz. And he has partnered with Dre as co-star and co-executive producer for the upcoming film ``The Wash,'' a remake of ``Car Wash.'' He also had a small part in the hit ``Training Day.''

In ``Bones,'' Snoop portrays a man who also went through a rags-to- riches rise to fame, but could never quite shake a few old habits. The character Jimmy Bones, created especially for Snoop, is a '70s-era community godfather who dabbles in crime to keep the neighborhood profitable, but also acts as a watchdog, protecting his people from drugs and outside corruption.

``It's like he's more or less the guardian of the neighborhood,'' says Snoop. ``He polices it and conducts it the way he feels it should be conducted. If running numbers was his way of making money, that's how he made it. Communities were willing to accept that back then. It's not like now, where a lot of black men are able to get jobs and become entertainers and athletes or whatnot. There were only certain opportunities out there for us at the time. He did what he had to do and he was a hero.''

Good Dogg, bad Dogg

Early on in the film, Jimmy Bones is murdered by friends after he turns down a proposal to introduce crack cocaine to the neighborhood. This is where the horror part comes in. Rather than going to heaven or hell, Bones chooses a limbo world called the Necropolis - a place where the walls breathe, maggots rain from the sky and lost souls remain forever doomed. From there, he can carry out his revenge on those who did him wrong.

``There are a lot of different meanings in this movie and a lot of contradicting values,'' says Snoop. ``But there's value and meaning behind every killing.''

The dark character is a far cry from Snoop's past acting work. We're used to seeing him play mainly thug or comedic roles like the puff-puff- won't-give stoner in ``Half Baked,'' the freeloading thug in ``Baby Boy'' or a parody of himself in this season's opener of TV's ``Just Shoot Me.'' But ``Bones'' director Ernest Dickerson, who has worked with rappers-turned-actors Shakur (1992's ``Juice'') and Ice-T (1994's ``Surviving the Game''), says Snoop surpassed his expectations.

``He was very committed from the beginning,'' says Dickerson, who worked as Spike Lee's cinematographer for nearly a decade before branching into directing his own films. ``He was pretty low-maintenance. I mean, he's got an ego. He's gotta have an ego to do what he does. But he made his ego subservient to the movie. He was a little worried when he found out we were going to press his hair every day; but you could tell he was really serious.

``He didn't ask to be surrounded by his homies for this film,'' Dickerson adds. ``When we were talking prospective cast members, he said, 'Ernest, please surround me with the best actors you can find.' He really wanted people around who were going to challenge him.''

Enter Pam Grier, the quintessential '70s leading lady. Grier plays Pearl, Jimmy Bones' psychic girlfriend who loses him in her early 30s, then meets his immortal soul while in her 50s.

``Pam was the only person I thought of for Pearl,'' says Dickerson. ``I stopped to think who can play 30 and who can play in their 50s and do it with grace and style and also have a powerful presence. It took me about 30 seconds to think of Pam Grier.''

``Man, I mean, that was like a dream come true right there,'' says Snoop of working opposite Foxy Brown herself. ``That's like a player in basketball being able to play with Michael Jordan. I grew up loving her and wanting to be a part of what she was doing. Then I ended up being her man. Man, that's special.''

That certain Snoopiness 

Snoop says Grier taught him a lot about the business and how to hold his own on the set, but Dickerson believes the foundation was already set.

``He has great natural instincts,'' says Dickerson. ``To me, the best way I could get a good performance was to get him to put a lot of himself into the character. Jimmy Bones is a large part of Snoop. He grew up knowing some gentlemen gangsters, so I think he could use that memory of growing up to create Jimmy. He worked very hard to create a character, but he put his touch on everything.''

That ``touch'' is what Dickerson calls ``Snoopiness.'' The two men are banking on a little Snoopiness to lure moviegoers to theaters.

``To me, horror works best when you care about the characters,'' says Dickerson. ``If something's happening to someone on screen and you don't care about them, who cares what comes next?''

While Snoop acknowledges that it is a frightening movie, he says ``Bones'' isn't the type of movie that ``scares you so you can't go to sleep at night. The things that scare people the most are the things we can all relate to. I can understand revenge, but I also appreciate a chance to change.''

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Snoop Dogg looks to take his film career to another level with ``Bones,'' playing a ghost who returns to avenge his own death.