Block Entertainment CEO Big Block has made the newest member of Boyz N Da Hood official. It's not Rick Ross, Lil Wayne or T.I., as had been rumored. He went a whole different route and brought on a newcomer: Zo.

"When I first did Boyz, it was built on me grabbing new artists, springboarding their career, and they branch off," Block explained. "The whole movement was Big Gee, Jodie Breeze, Duke and Young Jeezy. Jeezy is up now, he's gone. I was gonna sign Rick Ross; Rick Ross couldn't sign with me. To keep it all the way real, it was paperwork, politics. Same thing with Lil Wayne; Wayne couldn't sign with me.

"So Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, T.I. are all honorary members of Boyz N Da Hood," he continued. "But the official new member is Zo. Zo is in the group. He's gonna take it to another level then drop his solo album, Welcome to the Zoo. ... The new group album in February is called Back in the Chevy. [Yung] Joc is on there. Ice Cube is on the single." ...

411: We know what you're thinking: Where has this dude been? He was supposed to come out with a new album a couple of years ago. To keep it all the way real, Ness said he had to take some time out of the spotlight after being followed by cameras with his "Making the Band 3" group Da Band for three years straight ("I had to get to being a regular n---a," he said). Now he's back. Ness restructured his deal with Bad Boy in May and is hoping to piggyback off of the success of Danity Kane, Yung Joc, Cassie and Diddy as they flood the airwaves with Bad Boy material. Ness has recorded more than 200 songs and will put out the single "Talkin Dirty" soon. "I recorded whole albums with 9th Wonder, recorded whole albums with Tony Dofat, recorded whole albums with D-Dot � I'm talking about 12, 14 joints when I say whole albums. I got joints from Will.I.Am, Swizz Beatz, Just Blaze." For the mixtape, the Philly native teamed up with DJ Cannon and former high school classmate DJ Drama. Here's the science on some of the tracks:

Joints To Check For:
"Talkin Dirty." "It's produced by Khrysis and recorded by 9th Wonder," Ness said. "We only have, like, two original tracks on the mixtape; the rest are freestyles. This is the first single off my debut album, Nessessary. Basically it's a hip-hop joint getting back at all the naysayers that had something to say about Ness. The actual verses were written in 2000 while I was incarcerated.

"Can I Live" freestyle. "I went in my bag on this one," Ness said. "This is the Lockness Monsta goin' hard on my favorite all-time Bad Boy track [Black Rob's 'Can I Live']."

"F--- N---as F--- B******." "I took the concept from Biggie when he freestyled over Dr. Dre's beats [on 'Road to the Riches.'] I was just showing n---as I could rap over anyone's track no matter the region. I used all West Coast beats like 'B****** Ain't Sh--,' 'This Is How We Do It,' 'What's My Name,' 'Gin and Juice.' "