50 Cent Cleared in Copyright Case

A New Jersey judge has sided with 50 Cent and dismissed a lawsuit pertaining to 'Before I Self Destruct,' a feature film packed with the the rapper's 2009 album of the same name.

The rapper born Curtis Jackson III had been accused by author Shadrach Winstead of stealing key phrases from his 2008 book 'The Preacher's Son -- But the Streets Turned Me Into a Gangster.'

"With respect to the various specific phrases and lines which Winstead alleged that our client took from the book, we demonstrated that many were misquoted, manipulated or not in the movie at all and that, in any event, they were non-copyrightable short phrases or unpredictable expressions used in the 'street' such as 'get the dope, cut the dope,'" a rep for Fiddy's laywer told the website Allhiphop.com.

With the copyright drama behind him, 50 can focus on promoting his Street King initiative and prepping the release of his next album, due out in November. He's also getting ready to publish his third book -- presumably with phrases he came up with on his own.