"It seems that this whole lawsuit may not have been necessary if someone had carefully reviewed the lyrics . . .and in the context of the entire song in which they appeared," the judge wrote.
Attorney Stephen J. Kastenberg, who defended Fischbein, called the ruling, "A pro-First Amendment, pro-free speech decison that upholds the right of musicians . . . .to speak out on social or political issues in their own vernacular."
Tucker's attorney couldn't be reached for comment.
In a lawsuit filed in 1997, Tucker and her lawyers had complained of one song, entitled "Wonda Why They Call U Bitch," contending it portrayed Tucker as a prostitute.
But the lyrics cited by Tucker's lawyers were actually "snippets of words" separated by many verses and run together as if a continuous statement, "a gross and deliberate misrepresentation," one of Tucker's attorneys recently admitted.
Tucker's trial lawyer said he didn't know how this happened, the judge noted.
The song was about the "self- destruction of a young woman whose own fatalistic choices lead" to a tragic end.
The only reference in the song to Tucker "does not tend to injure her reputation, her business or profession, or expose her to public hatred, contempt or ridicule," the judge said.
In another song, "How Do You Want It," Shakur used one common slang word that begins with "mutha" to refer to Tucker, who had criticized his work.
The judge said the word was "an epithet which is unpleasant at best and vulgar at worst" but not libelous.
