US rapper 50 Cent has been sued for promoting the “gangsta lifestyle” by a teenage boy who claims friends of the rapper assaulted him.

A lawsuit filed on Wednesday said that the rapper, along with Universal Music Group, should take responsibility for the attack because they "promoted, marketed and advertised" such violence.

Fourteen year old James Rosemond says he was attacked by four men, including two associates of the rapper, on a Manhattan sidewalk in 2007.

The associates, rapper Tony Yayo and his employee Lowell Fletcher, have already pleaded guilty to charges relating to the incident.

Rosemond and his mother, who is also named in the lawsuit, claim he was targeted because he was wearing a t-shirt that represented rival rapper, The Game, reports Reuters.

The lawsuit said that “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."

(by Jason Gregory)