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50 Cent, Yayo Named in 'Gangsta' Lawsuit

A New York City mother and her 14-year-old son filed a civil lawsuit against 50 Cent, Tony Yayo, Violator Management and the Universal Music Group labels Interscope, G-Unit and Shady Records on Wednesday. The teen is the son of the Game's manager, Jimmy "Henchman" Rosemond, and he claims Yayo and three other men jumped him on a Manhattan sidewalk in March of 2007 when they saw him wearing a Czar Entertainment shirt. (Czar is the Game's management company, and the Game hasn't been on good terms with G-Unit since a feud in 2005.)

While Fiddy wasn't at the alleged crime scene, Rosemond and the boy's mother, Cynthia Reed, claim that Yayo's attack was meant to "promote and maintain Yayo and 50 Cent's 'gangsta' image," an image that's "promoted, marketed and advertised" by the pair's record labels. As the lawsuit explains it, "The members of G-Unit, including defendants Yayo and 50 Cent, encouraged, sanctioned, approved and condoned its members threatening violence, and or engaging in violent acts in furtherance of its business."

Yayo pleaded guilty to harrassment in February and was sentenced to 10 days of community service. One of his associates, Lowell Fletcher, pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child and was sentenced to nine months in jail. All of the defendants in the civil case have delined to comment on the matter.

—The ARTISTdirect Staff
04.11.08