Lichelle Laws, the musician who became Def Jam's first rapper under the moniker Boss (stylized as Bo$$), has died. She was 54 years old.
Laws' older sister, Jovita Cheryl Moffett, confirmed the rapper's death in a phone call with The Times. Laws died Monday at Ascension Providence Hospital in Southfield, Michigan.
No cause of death was revealed. Before her death, Laws was living with kidney disease and suffered a “serious stroke and seizure” in 2017, according to a 2021 GoFundMe organized by her sister Karyl Laws Addison.
News of Laws' death spread after fellow rapper Bun B mourned the “Deeper” and “I Don't Give a F—” artist on Instagram. Bun B (real name Bernard James Freeman) remembered Laws as “one of the greatest female MCs and a dear friend.”
Bun B's Instagram announcement drew tributes in the comments from other hip-hop stars, including Jermaine Dupri, Wu Tang's Ghostface Killah and Jadakiss.
Def Jam also honored Boss on Instagram, sharing a photo of the rapper wearing a matching brown Carhart ensemble and large sunglasses. In the caption, Def Jam said Boss “will be remembered as a pioneer of hip hop.” The record label also extended its condolences to his family.
For Laws, gangsta rap was the name of the game. In a question-and-answer session with The Times in 1993, Laws said the genre “really gets your blood pumping.”
And he added: “It's exciting, it kicks you in the butt. Good gangsta rap makes me feel like he just parachuted me out of a plane.”
Born in Detroit, Laws began her career after moving to Los Angeles, where she said gangsta rap was more accepted. After years of living on the streets in parts of Los Angeles, including Compton and Inglewood, Laws and her team met a woman who let them live in her house for free. She then she started working on her music.
Despite interest from other companies, Laws' demo reached Def Jam co-founder and music mogul Russell Simmons. Simmons added Boss to his Def Jam West roster in 1992. A year later, he released his debut and only studio album, “Born Gangstaz.”
The expletive-filled release included popular songs like “Deeper,” “Born Gangsta” and “I Don't Give a F—.” In two months, “Born Gangstaz” sold almost 400,000 copies.
Laws' music included references to violence, drugs and sex. He prided himself on speaking “tough and tough,” rather than sounding “dumb.” She often described other female rappers' material as “weak.”
“They're acting,” he told The Times. “Their hearts are not in this. But my heart, soul and everything else is in my raps. That's why I'm as bad as any of these male gangsta rappers.”
Still, Laws said she had a hard time convincing male-run record companies that there was an audience for hardcore female rap like hers. “A lot of men… think women should be quiet and have babies,” she said, before advocating for greater female power at the top.
Although she was a relative novice in the '90s, Laws had big plans for her music career and beyond: “One of my goals is to have my own company.”
She added: “There are so many hardcore female rappers who need a chance, and I would be in a position to give it to them.”
In addition to lending his talents to artists such as rapper AMG, West Coast rap group South Central, Krayzie Bone and LaReece, Boss's music has appeared in several film and television projects, including “Orange Is the New Black” Netflix and “The Man Who Fell to Earth.”
Laws was born on September 12, 1969, and had a “very proper upbringing,” which included ballet classes in her youth and an education at Oakland Community College near Detroit. That just wasn't her style, she said.
“I didn't start living until I got out of that real s–t,” he told The Times. “That's when the real me came out of the cage.”
The rapper's family, who have set up an online memorial fund, will hold a public celebration of Laws' life on March 23. The location has not yet been revealed.
