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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 ...
,
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), Billboard'' magazine that ranks contemporary R&B, R&B and hip hop music, hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. Th ...
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, Detroit. Her parents were both church deacons. She has two elder sisters. Laws relocated to
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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, K ...
who stuck her on a track with AMG.
Russell Simmons Russell Wendell Simmons (born October 4, 1957) is an American entrepreneur, writer and record executive. He co-founded the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings, and created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and Tantris. 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 A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' Hot Rap Tracks 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, 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, 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 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
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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
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TV show ''
Orange Is the New Black ''Orange Is the New Black'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''OITNB'') is an American comedy-drama streaming television series created by Jenji Kohan for Netflix. The series is based on Piper Kerman's memoir '' Orange Is the New Black: My Year in ...
''. Boss' song "I Don't Give A Fuck" featured as the Closing Credits song of the episode "Under Pressure" from Season 1 of the
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TV show ''
Man Who Fell From the Sky A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromos ...
''


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