Lichelle Laws (born September 12, 1969), better known by her stage name Boss, is an American
rapper
Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...
from
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
,
Michigan
Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...
. Her debut album, ''
Born Gangstaz'', reached number three on
''Billboard'''s
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated ...
chart in 1993. Her name is sometimes stylized as Bo$$.
Personal life and career
Laws was born in Detroit to Joe Laws, an autoworker, and Lillie, who took her master's degree in education, Detroit, and was a teacher at junior high and middle schools, formerly a teacher of business education at
Lewis College of Business
Pensole Lewis College of Business and Design is a private, historically black college in Detroit, Michigan. It was also the first and only historically black college in Michigan. Founded in 1928 as the Lewis College of Business by Violet T. ...
, Detroit. Her parents were both church deacons. She has two elder sisters.
Laws relocated to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
after graduating high school, accompanied by her DJ Irene 'Dee' Moore. She was spotted by
DJ Quik
David Marvin Blake (born January 18, 1970), better known by his stage names DJ Quik or Da Quiksta, is an American rapper and producer, known for his production in the G-funk style of West Coast hip-hop. Blake has collaborated with Snoop Dogg, ...
who stuck her on a track with
AMG.
Russell Simmons liked the track and promptly signed her to Def Jam West. Her debut album ''
Born Gangstaz'' was released in 1993, and the singles, "Deeper" and "Recipe for a Hoe", hit number one on the ''
Billboard''
Hot Rap Tracks
Hot Rap Songs (formerly known as Hot Rap Tracks and Hot Rap Singles) is a chart released weekly by ''Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stati ...
chart.
In 1994, Laws was interviewed by a reporter from ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', who revealed that she grew up in a middle-class neighborhood (on the West Side, Detroit), studied ballet and piano, and attended Catholic private school (where she was a cheerleader), before majoring in business for two years at Oakland University.
Laws had never attempted to disguise the truth of her upbringing; the intro of her 1993 album ''Born Gangstaz'', "Intro: A Call From Mom", has her mother Lillie describe her as "a young lady who was brought up through Catholic school for 12 years; and dance schools, tap dance, jazz, piano lessons and all of that; plus, you went to college for three years...." "The album is, in fact, bracketed with a mockery of her rearing; phone messages from mama and papa particularizing a privileged suburban upbringing (Catholic-school, piano-playing, tap-dancing)" belying the record's "unyielding vulgarity and embroidered aggression" with a "brilliant... self-mocking disclaimer".
Def Jef
Def Jef is the stage name of Jeffrey Fortson (born September 27, 1970), an American alternative hip hop musician and rapper of the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was born in Harlem, New York City.
His debut album was 1989's '' Just a Poet wi ...
, who produced the album and suggested the inclusion of Laws's parents, observed "I can't believe none of the reviews saw the irony of that. No one did!" Having left Detroit for south-side Los Angeles in 1990, Laws and Moore encountered its "squalid side... derelict hotels, feudal gangs, dealing and hustling". Prior to securing a record deal, they lived in poor circumstances, selling drugs, sleeping on benches, and living in low-rent hotels. Her parents were unaware of the lifestyle she was leading. In the wake of her first album, Laws and Moore stopped working together, Laws noting "We couldn't work together anymore, but we were still cool"; Moore's Def Jam deal never came to anything.
In the mid-1990s, Laws relocated to Texas to record songs with Ricardo Royal, a.k.a. "Coco Budda", a rapper whose work she had admired; Laws settled in Houston, they entered a relationship, and had a son, Lamar. Although living a more relaxed life, Laws recorded demos for a second album, funded by Def Jam, but the label rejected them, and she was dropped from the label. Laws took this development in stride, noting "I was used to that kind of shit... I thought I was good enough to get another deal. But I just chilled in Texas. Then I got sick." Still performing shows despite waning popularity in light of her lack of new releases, Laws moved to Dallas with Royal, where she took a job as co-host of a nightly hip-hop radio show on
KKDA-FM
KKDA-FM (104.5 MHz), known as K104, has been a leading radio station in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex for 46 years. It is a longtime heritage urban contemporary formatted station. It is owned by Service Broadcasting Corporation alongside K ...
, where she stayed for five years, recalling in 2004 "that was a bomb job". By 1999, she was suffering kidney failure; she and Royal amicably split up, and she went to live with her parents, undergoing dialysis for three and a half years, experiencing "every complication that you have with... bad kidneys", and given a poor prognosis. At times of comparatively better health, Laws recorded with Def Jef, who praised her dedication, lack of self-pity, and resolve in the face of her health problems. In 2001, she collaborated with
Krayzie Bone
Anthony Henderson (born June 17, 1973), better known as Krayzie Bone, is an American rapper, singer, producer, and entrepreneur. He is a member of the rap group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony.
Personal life
Henderson comes from a fourth generation fami ...
on his album ''
Thug On Da Line''. In 2004, she released a mixtape titled ''The Six Million Dollar Mixtape'' produced by Def Jef. In 2004, Laws observed of her more recent work "It's still hardcore... it's me. I've been through so much. I try to put a message in there, but it's not preachy shit." Def Jef claimed to have "shopped (Laws) to almost every major and indie label and met with resistance... People are always asking about how she looks, what her age is... it's never about the music. I'll work with Boss when she's 45 years old. She gave me a new perspective on women."
It was revealed in May 2011 that Laws was in need of a kidney due to her suffering from
renal disease
Kidney disease, or renal disease, technically referred to as nephropathy, is damage to or disease of a kidney. Nephritis is an inflammatory kidney disease and has several types according to the location of the inflammation. Inflammation can b ...
, a disease that rendered her kidneys useless for processing toxins in her body. Laws reached out to the
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
community for a potential donor. A donor is yet to be found. In 2017, Laws suffered from "a major stroke and seizure", and on 31 January 2021 a GoFundMe was set up to raise $15,000 for a recommended medical procedure. By February 17, the NME reported it had reached $2,215; by March 3, it had surpassed the $15,000 goal, reaching $16,314.
Discography
Studio albums
Collaboration albums
*''Doin Everythang''
with D.E.T. (2008)
Singles
Songs in soundtracks
Boss' song "I Don't Give A Fuck" featured as the Closing Credits song of the episode "Lesbian Request Denied" from Season 1 of the
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...
TV show ''
Orange Is the New Black''.
Boss' song "I Don't Give A Fuck" featured as the Closing Credits song of the episode "Under Pressure" from Season 1 of the
Showtime
Showtime or Show Time may refer to:
Film
* ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film
* ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur
Television Networks and channels
* Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...
TV show ''
Man Who Fell From the Sky''
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boss
1969 births
Living people
American women rappers
African-American women rappers
Midwest hip hop musicians
Rappers from Detroit
Def Jam Recordings artists
Gangsta rappers
21st-century American rappers
21st-century American women musicians
21st-century African-American women
21st-century African-American musicians
20th-century African-American people
20th-century African-American women
21st-century women rappers