Rick Ross wins lawsuit to keep his stage name, freestyles over ″Bound 2″

Rick Ross has won his legal battle against drug kingpin “Freeway” Rick Ross, with a court ruling in the rapper’s favour to keep his adopted stage name.

The hip-hop star, real name: William Leonard Roberts, has ended a three-year wrangle with the convicted gangster, who was seeking damages as well as a cease and desist of Ross “appropriating his name and likeness”.

A judge commented in the ruling: “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.”

Meanwhile, Ross has celebrated by freestyling over Kanye West’s “Bound 2″. You can listen to that beneath:

[via Pitchfork]