50 Cent Wants to Drop Defamation Lawsuit Against Ex Daphne Joy

50 Cent is calling off the dogs ... he's taking steps to drop his defamation lawsuit against his ex, Daphne Joy .

The rapper just filed new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, asking the judge to dismiss the suit without prejudice ... the judge has yet to sign off, but it's just a formality at this point.

It's a complete 180 for Fiddy ... as we reported, he filed his defamation suit against Daphne back in May after she publicly accused him of rape and physical abuse.

Daphne made the allegation in a March 28 Instagram post where she scolded 50 Cent for trolling her over her inclusion in a separate lawsuit involving Diddy, adding ... "Let's put the real focus on your true evil actions of raping me and physically abusing me."

TMZ broke the story ... Daphne deleted the post in July in an effort to smooth things over with 50 Cent and for the sake of their son, Sire .

On its face, it looks like Daphne's move worked ... because 50 Cent no longer wants to move forward with the lawsuit.