Dizzee Rascal has been talking to BBC Newsbeat about his upcoming collaboration with Shakira. 'Loca' is the first single from the Colombian singer's new album, 'Sale El Sol', which is due out in November.

The rapper said: "I know it sounds a bit mad now, but you'll see it and see what's going on. It's me doing something different man, on a merengue tip".

As for the recording of the track, Dizzee said: "[Shakira's a] nice girl to work with - it was easy. It was one of those ones off the cuff, 'Oh, do you want to work with Shakira, she's in town?' Yeah!"

Lauryn Hill has told MTV News that she is "getting closer" to completing her second solo album, the follow-up to 1998's 'The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill'. Beyond that, she didn't say much. Actually, all she said was "That's all I can say".

Actually, she did also reveal that the album has no collaborations on it, because she's got too much to say about the last twelve years. She explained: "I have respect for what people do. I also like to hear the eclectics, I like to hear the mixture. There's a lot of different creative energies out there right now. I respect the different sounds that I'm hearing. It's been such a long time since I've gotten my voice and my ideas [out]. In terms of collaborations, that's not even something I've been thinking about per se".

You might think that The Maccabees haven't yet started work on their third album. But you'd be wrong, because they have. They've written two whole songs. How many songs have you written for the new Maccabees album? None. So get off your high horse about it, will you?

Speaking to BBC 6music, guitarist Felix White said: "We're getting there. We've got two songs into a playable shape and there are hundreds of ideas. It's starting to feel really good and like music that we've never done before. It's better and exciting and something to wake up and think about. The next album is a long way from having everything there together but even the first two songs that we've got just sound great to me. We're getting better and we still have that newness. So, why shouldn't we make a better record this time round?"

Earlier this year, White put together a playlist for us, filled with music that had influenced the sound of the band's last album, 'Wall Of Arms'. Check it out here.

Good news for Girls Aloud fans who like being bombarded with music, Nicola Roberts has joined Cheryl Cole, Nadine Coyle and Sarah Harding in recording a solo album, all of which are due to be released later this year.

Roberts told Metro: "When I've not been doing [work for my make-up brand] Dainty Doll this year, I've been in the studio non-stop doing all of my own song writing. I would never give up on music. Music has always been the thing that's been closest to me".

Cheryl Cole has, of course, already released one solo album, last year's 'Three Words', with the follow-up scheduled for release in October. It was recently announced that Nadine Coyle's debut solo album would be released exclusively through Tesco stores, while Sarah Harding has gone a little quiet of late, but probably because she's working so ruddy bloody hard.

Kimberley Walsh is the only member of the group not to record any solo material. But not because she's rubbish, she just doesn't fancy it (or is "fundamentally opposed" to it, as sources might say)

Cribs bassist Gary Jarman has said that the band are suffering an "identity crisis" over their next album, the follow-up to last year's 'Ignore The Ignorant'.

Jarman told Gigwise: "It's like an identity crisis - I think we've got a few facets to us. With the Cribs, when we first started out it was just about doing what you want, and one part of me really just wants The Cribs to record a record in the basement - that's what we used to do. And then the other side of me wants to go to America and spend a couple of months in the studio making a big record. It's weird, I'm torn at the minute".

Earlier this month Plan B said that he would be retiring the Strickland Banks character and the soul sound of his current album, 'The Defamation Of Strickland Banks', quite soon. Now, it seems, he's had a change of heart. Well, sort of.

In an interview with The Daily Star earlier this month, Plan B said: "[Strickland Banks] is a soul singer who's found success very quickly and it's gone to his head. I'm just telling a story, a scene from my career and it won't be around for ever. He's completely disconnected, a fictional creation, fictional people, no relation to my life. Now the music is so successful it's getting harder. I'm like a film director. On the album cover it says 'Plan B presents... The Defamation Of Strickland Banks'. It's me portraying this character Strickland Banks for this one project, this one album".

However, in a new interview with tabloid this week, he said: "I want to do Strickland Banks's Greatest Hits - the songs that made him famous. 'Make Me Your Religion', which I played at the iTunes Festival in London, is for that. There's a handful of other songs that I wrote after the album [which] came out in a similar vein. They don't tell Strickland's story, but they sound like his songs".

This doesn't mean that Strickland Banks is here to stay forever, though. Plan B went on to reveal that the new tracks are for an expanded edition of the 'Strickland Banks' album, due for release later this year. The crafty bugger. He explained: "I'll repack them with 'Defamation' but I don't think I'll do a whole new separate album about Strickland again. I want to keep moving on".

I still think he'll struggle to leave that soul sound behind completely.

Elbow frontman Guy Garvey has revealed that the band's currently-in-production fifth album sees them looking back to their youth.

Garvey told BBC 6music: "The working title of the album at the moment is 'Lippy Kids'. It's quite a nostalgic thing. I've got a thing about growing up, not needing to, but a certain period of your life when - well, kids are called 'hoodies' these days, aren't they, when they reach their teens? I remember it being an amazing, important time, so I've written a lot about that".

Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker is reportedly working with a host of hip hop stars for his first solo album.

According to XXL, the album will feature Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, RZA, Drake, TI, The Game, Pharrell Williams, Lupe Fiasco, Rick Ross, Bun, B, Beanie Sigel, Clipse, Yelawolf, The Cool Kids and more.

The as-yet-untitled album is reportedly set for release in October.

Patrick Wolf has dropped 'The Conqueror' as the title of his currently-in-production new album, as the focus of the record has changed since it was originally announced last year.

As previously reported, 'The Conqueror' and Wolf's 2009 album, 'The Bachelor', were originally planned to be released together as a two-disc set, though he later decided to release them separately. The release of 'The Bachelor' was funded by £100,000 raised from fans via Bandstocks.

Wolf told fans via Twitter on Friday: "'The Conqueror' is no more the album title. I've grown up a lot from that battle aggression. Ideas of empathy are more important right now".

The musician also revealed last month that he had completed the first track for the album.

Underworld have said that they collaborated with a number of newer artists on their new album, 'Barking', because they were worried that they were becoming an 'old' band.

As previously reported, the album was created by the duo in their Essex studio, though most tracks were then sent to other producers for additional production type tweaking, which is interesting, making this a bit like a remix album for an LP that was never released.

The Duo's Karl Hyde told Metro: "We didn't want to be in an 'old' band. Our heroes were people such as Miles Davis, Bowie and Picasso, who had the ability to constantly reinvent themselves. They didn't have a problem working with younger people. We've always been about jamming, and passing ideas back and forth. When we were working with Anthony Minghella [on the soundtrack for 2006 film 'Breaking And Entering'], he'd get us in to talk about film edits".

He added: "When Rick and I came together in the early 1980s, we were listening to a lot of German electronica and Jamaican reggae. We'd always come back to making sounds to make your body move. And for seventeen, eighteen years we'd walk out on stage with no set list and just improvise. Underworld was based on a concept of disaster - whenever something went wrong, the audience would get excited because you'd have to use your intuition".

The album will be released under a 'services deal' with Cooking Vinyl later this year.

Bono has told Rolling Stone that U2 are working on a "club-sounding" album, which I can only assume means that he's systematically beating the other members of the band with a large lump of wood as they record it.

Speaking of injuries, the singer also told the magazine about his recent back trouble, which required emergency surgery and forced the band to cancel a string of live dates, including their Glastonbury headline slot. He said: "There are a lot bigger problems out there than the ones I was facing ... But I came out of it perfect. And I feel incredibly grateful".

Kanye West is recording a track with Raekwon and Justin Bieber. This story sounds so made up even I want to mock me for running it. But anyway, it all started, as all things do, with Twitter.

It was like this:

@justinbieber I'm honored that you like my music Justin Bieber!!! You gotta hear the album. Maybe we can do something together. Me, You and Raekwon
@kanyewest me, u, and the chef 2gether on a song = EPIC. haha. might sound crazy 2 u but even having this convo is living the dream. Thanks

"Where was Raekwon in all of this?" you ask. Well, we can't be sure. But he was neither on Twitter nipping this whole thing in the bud, or getting in his car and travelling over to Kanye's house to pull him away from his computer. In fact, it appears he approves of Kanye's idea.

In an interview with XXL magazine on Tuesday, the Wu-Clan man said: "It's definitely gonna happen. When you got these kinda talents merging together to do something exciting, I think it's something that's gonna make the fans check it out. I'm big fans of both of these guys. I think, at the end of the day, shorty [he means Bieber] is a sensation. And [for him] to acknowledge me it makes me feel good that the young generation is checkin me out like that. And at the same time it gives me a position to play a big brother in the game. He wants my assistance or whatever he can get it. I respect him, I like his style".

He continued: "Yeezy [that's Kanye, keep up] called me and we gonna make it pop. At the end of the day we're all doing our thing in the game and for them to even just have a conversation and just put my name in it it feels good. It feels good to respect what I do and I respect what they do. And we gonna make a hit. Justin got his own fan base and me and Yeezy got our own fan base and we gonna make it happen. We gonna make a good record".

In the interest of balance, here's a video of Justin Bieber getting hit in the face: youtu.be/0e50vqY7Szo

Avril Lavigne has recorded enough new songs to fill two whole albums, she has revealed. Let's hope she picks out the best ones and makes one really good album, rather than spreading them all across two flabby ones, as has become popular in recent years.

She told her fansite, Avril Lavigne Bandaids: "I've been in LA working on the album. Trying some new stuff. Exploring. The thing with me, is that I write my own music and therefore, it takes me longer to put out records because I have to live my life to get inspiration. I have so much material at this point, for two records. I'm getting close".

We'd best hope she doesn't get too close, as she's just been diagnosed with strep throat, or the streptococcus virus, if you want get all fancy about it. Lavigne refused to stop working though, posting a picture of herself wearing a face mask to Twitter with the message: "In the studio with [producer] AlexDaKid. I've got strep throat, but I ain't stopping my thing!"

The Drums have started writing songs for their second album. In good news for fans of their eponymous debut, they told Clash in a new interview that they "don't want a whole lot to change". Bad news for those of you who thought 'The Drums' was quite annoying though, I suppose.

Anyway, here's what the band's Conor Hanwick had to say: "No, we don't want to do a whole lot of change. What's exciting us is songs, not stylistic stuff. Stylistically and sonically and production-wise, the album will sound pretty similar to this [first] one, just with new songs. If something new comes along and we think it feels good we'll go with it. We're not gonna shun anything new just because it's new, but at the same time we're firm believers in if it's not broke don't fix it".

Florence Welch will soon be cranking up her machine again in order to get to work on recording her second album, the follow-up to last year's 'Lungs', which she promises will be influenced by an "eclectic mix" of other artists. Let's hope she gives them all proper credit for their 'influence' this time.

Welch told BBC 6music: "I'm definitely going to work with a couple of new people. I'm hoping I'll have some time off in September and then in October or November time I'll start really concentrating on doing the full thing. I'm quite easily distracted and my thoughts are hard to pin down, but it's good in some ways. I think it was like lyrically we're moving away from the blood and guts of the first album".

On the subject of influences, she said: "I always listen to Tom Waits, Crystal Castles and this guy called Chad VanGaalen and then weird French new rave stuff. It's quite an eclectic mix and I'm not sure how it's going to come across in the new album. It kind of sinks in subliminally, I think".

Slash has revealed that he was forced to ditch a collaboration with Steven Tyler from his recently released solo album because he was certain the track would be blocked by Aerosmith's record label. Said long player did feature contributions from the likes of Black Eyed Peas' vocalist Fergie, Ozzy Osbourne and Motorhead frontman Lemmy.

The guitarist told Ultimate-Guitar.com: "I worked with Steven for a second, but it was just a huge conflict of interest with Aerosmith. The song hasn't been used with anybody else, but there was no chance that the record company was gonna allow us to release it, so we had to let it go".

Although originally scheduled for release next month, Kanye West's new album will now not make it to stores until November, as he's still got a few finishing touches to put on it. However, West has revealed a number of the guests who will appear on the LP.

Last week, West played a new track on Hot 97. Called 'See Me Now' and produced by West with No ID and Lex Luger, the track features Beyonce on the chorus, as well as vocals from The Gap Band's Charlie Wilson. According to reports, the track was only completed last week, and Rolling Stone noted that, when West played the track for them two weeks ago, Beyonce's vocals weren't on it. As well as this, Mr Beyonce - Jay-Z - has apparently laid down a verse for a remix of the album's first single, 'Power'.

West also confirmed a less obvious collaborator for the album, Bon Iver's Justin Vernon. West told Rolling Stone last week that the indie-folk star will appear on a track called 'Lost In The World', having re-recorded the vocals from his song 'Woods'. West explained that he'd first heard 'Woods' when Ed Banger boss Pedro Winter played it to him, and said that he planned to sample it on a track. West asked if he could use it instead, and gave Vernon a call. The rapper said: "I called [Vernon] and we ended up becoming like really good friends, playing basketball together everyday, and going into the back studio and just recording his parts. He's similar to me, like where he just does shit just so people would be like, 'Oh shit how did you do that? How did that happen?' He's just a really cool guy to be around".

Speaking to Pitchfork, Vernon revealed that the pair had actually worked on more than one track together, saying: "['Lost In The World'] was kind of bare so I added some choir-sounding stuff and then thicked out the samples with my voice ... After that first week he was like, 'I want you to come back'. So I came back a few weeks later and it was the same kind of thing, throwing ideas around - there are a bunch of other songs I'd just throw down on, write a little hook, whatever ... I asked for a separate studio because I'd do so much overdubbing to get my ideas out. So I ended up recording in this tiny back room, and then Kanye would come back and listen to what I came up with, and then we'd work on changing the lyrics. We'd just sit there and collaborate. It was fucking fun, man".

Just days after being released from hospital, where she was being treated for that previously reported bout of malaria, Cheryl Cole has already begun work on her second solo album, a source has claimed to the Daily Star.

According to the report, Cole spent Monday in a recording studio and has now booked herself in for a full week later this month.

The source said: "Cheryl booked the studio for a week, though she'll see how many days she can manage. But she is not the sort of person to lie in bed waiting to get better. She is a grafter and as much as people want her to rest, she won't. Cheryl is really geared towards making it in the US and feels well enough to push on".

Van Halen have announced that they are recording a new album, the follow-up to 1998's 'Van Halen III', and their first LP with original vocalist Dave Lee Roth since 1983's '1984'.

Last week it was announced that the band had renewed their publishing contract with Warner/Chappell, with the company's president Scott Francis saying in a statement: "It's fantastic to continue our relationship with Van Halen, which is one of the most enduring and successful partnerships within our roster of songwriters. Since its inception, Van Halen has written driving melodic rock songs performed in groundbreaking style".

Now, according to Billboard, the band have confirmed that they are currently in the studio recording an album with Roth that is due for release in 2011.

Plan B has said that his next album, like 'The Defamation Of Strickland Banks', which was released in April, will see him take a radical change in musical direction. Speaking to The Daily Star, he explained that he is currently playing the role of a soul singer called Strickland Banks and will retire the character when he finishes touring the album.

He said: "[Strickland Banks] is a soul singer who's found success very quickly and it's gone to his head. I'm just telling a story, a scene from my career and it won't be around for ever. He's completely disconnected, a fictional creation, fictional people, no relation to my life. Now the music is so successful it's getting harder. I'm like a film director. On the album cover it says 'Plan B presents... The Defamation Of Strickland Banks'. It's me portraying this character Strickland Banks for this one project, this one album".

As for where he'll go next, the musician said: "It could be dubstep or reggae. We almost released a folk song. That's the thing about me. If I feel like I've created a great piece of music then it doesn't matter what genre it is, I'll put my name to it. Just expect me to always come from somewhere outside the box".

Of course, when it comes to it, there will be a lot of people telling him not to change direction when he is clearly onto a good thing. It remains to be seen if Plan B can actually get away with a second change of direction.