Posted on Fri, May. 02, 2008

Rocker Tommy Lee and rapper Ludacris lassoed a lot of attention in Cowtown

Rocker Tommy Lee and rapper Ludacris may be a motley couple, but they flipped burgers, chased calves and lassoed a lot of attention for their new eco-friendly reality series

By ANDREW MARTON

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

In one of the more unlikely collaborations since Elton John performed with Eminem at the Grammys a few years back, Tommy Lee, the tattooed, Pamela Anderson-marrying, bad-boy drummer of hair-metal supergroup Motley Crue, has teamed with mega-selling rapper-actor Christopher Brian Bridges -- aka, "Ludacris" -- in a reality program dubbed Battleground Earth.

Scheduled to air in August on Discovery Network's new Planet Green channel, the 10-episode series plants Lee in one tour bus and Ludacris in another as they cruise the country, competing to see which star can become more environmentally aware while still leading that wild and crazy life on the road.

Last weekend, the Ludacris-Lee "rap 'n' roll" show pulled into Fort Worth's Stockyards. From head to toe -- with his boots, a Texas flag draped over his tattered jeans, a shirt as red as a desert sunset and a black hat -- Lee made for quite the ranch-hand. In contrast, Ludacris' only concession to local farm fashion was his occasional sporting of a cowboy hat.

Once the rapper and the rocker entered the Stockyards Rodeo, they were pitted against roughly 50 kids participating in the Friday-night calf scramble.

The final score: Elusive calf, 1, exhausted music stars, 0.

Before they left the arena, Lee and Ludacris grabbed the microphone to proselytize their new eco-friendly message.

"I didn't know much about the green movement," said Lee in his low-register rasp of a voice. "But now I'm spreading the message as far as I can. It's a really cool thing to do, really cool."

Ludacris then delivered a rap sermon on his new environmental awakening: "You kids need to remember: If you can't change the world, you can at least change yourself. Repeat after me: Reduce, reuse, recycle. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Oh, and Tommy Lee is gonna lose Battleground Earth."

To which Lee grabbed the mike to begin the chant, "Luda the polluta."

Biofuel for thought

The following morning, the setting shifted from Fort Worth to Dallas, where the hard-living duo discovered their bio-diesel buses running on empty. Near desperate for biodegradable fuel, the two pulled into a North Dallas greasy spoon classic, Keller's Drive-In, where their mission was to sell as many burgers and fries as possible to generate the most grease-convertible-to-biofuel.

No sooner had the tour buses arrived than Keller's was overrun by its regular clientele, notably a posse of weekend bikers in leather vests, proud tattoos and rumbling Harley-Davidsons -- who proceeded to whip out camera phones to snap shots of Lee and Ludacris.

"I think these guys are making an important point," says Chuck Underwood, a 49-year-old sales professional from Garland with a graying ponytail, leaning against his Harley. "What I like about Tommy Lee is that he always calls attention to whatever he's doing -- including this good cause."

"I listen to Ludacris," chimes in Tariro Mapuranga, a 29-year-old call-center supervisor in Richardson, "And though I'm not a real fan of Tommy Lee, I think it's really great if these two can help us recognize the importance of this issue."

Under the direction of several bullhorn-bellowing directors, the rapper and the rocker were instructed to engage in some trash-talking over who would accumulate the most orders for everything from Keller's tater tots and hulking burgers to those ever-popular corn dogs -- all in the name of creating fuel-producing kitchen grease.

Having dispensed with the taunts, each star sprinted toward in-coming cars. They were especially eager to drum up business from an arriving flotilla of customers riding in such classics as a Cadillac low-rider and a pale-pink Thunderbird.

Lee made a beeline for a pink jeep full of bikini-clad women. Between swigs of a longneck, Lee, wearing an orange fedora, then filled orders in the drive-in's crowded kitchen, pausing only to autograph a fan's cymbal.

Meanwhile, Ludacris had a special strategy for creating the most greasy fuel.

"I will give $20 to the person who can eat the most corn dogs," Ludacris announced. And the gathering crowd began to chant his name, clearly in approval of his scheme.

As the contest died down, one member of Lee's "ecorage" -- or ecologically minded entourage -- assessed the worth of bringing this unlikely pair together for such a politically correct cause.

"What's really cool is that though there are real differences in Luda's culture -- the hip-hop culture -- and Lee's rock world, there are more similarities than you would realize, and we both have met around doing something positive on this issue," says Johnny Colt, a former bass guitarist in the Black Crowes, who knows Lee from several previous rock tours.

While Battleground Earth's producers were being very tight-lipped on whether Lee or Ludacris won the "fast-food fuel" smackdown, they did divulge that the two road warriors were taking their contest from the Metroplex to New Orleans and later Atlanta.

And if the buses don't run short on biofuel, this rap-and-rock eco-tour of America plans to end up at L.A.'s famed Greek Theater -- to be met by a green-carpet welcome.

Battleground Earth

Premieres at 9 p.m. Aug. 3, on the Planet Green channel (date and time subject to change).

This will be the first of 10 one-hour episodes.