Judge Rules In Favor Of Rick Ross In Lawsuit

January 1st, 2014

Kriston McConnell

Some of you may already know this, but in case you missed it here’s a recap.

Rick Ross (William Leonard Roberts) has been in a legal battle with a real drug kingpin, known as “Freeway” Rick Ross. Freeway Rick Ross claims that Mr Roberts stole his name and persona to gain notoriety as a rapper. That battle continued throughout the entire year of 2013, but now it’s finally come to an end.

A judge has ruled in favor of Rapper Rick Ross, stating that while he (Roberts) did create a celebrity persona based off the kingpin and has songs that could have been related to his life, he is still protected under the first amendment. Regarding the ruling, the presiding judge had the following to say, according to The Hollywood Reporter:

Roberts created a celebrity identity, using the name Rick Ross, of a cocaine kingpin turned rapper. He was not simply an impostor seeking to profit solely off the name and reputation of Rick Ross. Rather, he made music out of fictional tales of dealing drugs and other exploits—some of which related to plaintiff. Using the name and certain details of an infamous criminal’s life as basic elements, he created original artistic works.

What seems like a celebration of the news, Ross has released a remix of Kanye West’s new song that recently made headlines, “Bound 2.” You can listen to the remix below.