Lichelle Laws, the musician who became Def Jam’s first female rapper under the moniker Boss (stylized as Bo$$), has died. She was 54.
Laws’s 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, Mich.
No cause of death was revealed. Before her death, Laws lived with renal disease and suffered a “major 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 best female MCs and a dear friend.”
Bun B’s Instagram announcement prompted tributes in the comments from additional 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 in a matching brown Carhart ensemble and big sunglasses. In the caption, Def Jam said Boss will “be remembered as a pioneer in hip hop.” The record label extended condolences to her family.
For Laws, gangsta rap was the name of the game. In a Q&A with The Times in 1993, Laws said the genre “really gets your blood rushing.”
She added: “It’s exciting, it kicks you in the butt. Good gangsta rap makes me feel like I just parachuted out of a plane.”
Laws, born in Detroit, began her career after moving to Los Angeles, where she said gangsta rap was more accepted. After years of living on the street in parts of Los Angeles including Compton and Inglewood, Laws and her crew met a woman who let them live in her house for free. Then she began working on her music.
Despite interest from other companies, Laws’ demo made it to Def Jam co-founder and music mogul Russell Simmons. Simmons signed Boss to his Def Jam West roster in 1992. A year later, she released her debut and sole studio album, “Born Gangstaz.”
