HHDX New Bits (Rhymefest, Bone, Bonnaroo Lineup)

Chicago emcee Rhymefest might be the busiest man in hip hop. The Grammy Award-winning rapper, whose recent debut LP Blue Collar scored a minor hit with the single "Brand New," is thinking much bigger for his sophomore album. El Che, titled both after his government name and Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara, is supposedly set to be the first hip hop album/stage musical, according to an interview with Pitchforkmedia. "The album tells a story from front to back, and you're gonna have songs you can take from the album and put them on the radio, and you won't even know the difference."

'Fest reports that longtime-friend Kanye West will play a bigger role than he did with Blue Collar, and that he hopes for contributions from DJ Premier, Ghostface Killah and Kelis. Currently being organized with Anthony Mosley and the Chicago theater group Collaboraction, videos are being planned for every song on the album.

Rap Group Bone Thugs N Harmony have a new label. Krayzie, Wish, and Lazie will call Interscope their new home. The group is set to release their seventh studio album Strength & Loyalty, in AprilonInterscope.

The group was brought out in the early 90s by the late rapper Eazy-E. Their most successfulrelease to date is the 1995 E.1999 Eternal. The album went sixtimes platinum and shorto number one spoton Billboard's top 200 AlbumCharts and the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Album Charts. Thedisc also included thegroup's number one singles "1st of tha Month" and "Crossroads" which was a tribute to the death of their founder and friend Eazy.

The bandhit some inner turmoils when they kicked outthen member Bizzy in 2005 due to him missing many of the group's shows. Since then they have released two albums Thug Stories and Thug World Order, without their former band mate.

Strength & Loyalty comes out Apr. 17.