Female rapper Lichelle Laws, known in the hip-hop world as BO$$ died on March 11. The 54-year-old was the first female rapper signed to Def Jam West (DJ West).
According to Billboard, although she was born in Detroit and lived in New York for a short time, her move to Los Angeles solidified a record deal for her after she met producer DJ Quik. Although her vocals and lyrical prowess held her down as BO$$, the acronym (Bi**hes On Some Sh**) was the
name of a two-woman group, which included her DJ, Irene “Dee” Moore. They were signed to Def Jam West and released their most popular, and to some, the only song most people know, “Deeper.” They later debuted their only album, “Born Gangstaz,” in May 1993 and sold close to 400,000 copies.The song “Deeper” reached the top of the Billboard Hot Rap Singles chart at No. 1 and No. 65 on the Billboard Hot 100. According to Hot 97
, “Born Gangstaz” went up to No. 22 on the Billboard 200 and made it to No. 3 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.TMZ reported that Laws had been battling renal disease since it was diagnosed more than 10 years ago in 2011. After suffering a stroke and seizure in 2017, a GoFundMe account was set up in 2021 to raise funds to try to offset the “costly” care she needed, which also included a possible kidney transplant. Billboard reported that it raised $18,000 to help with her medical bills.
Houston rapper and businessman Bun B was one of the first to acknowledge her death in an Instagram post.
“Rest in peace to my big sis Lichelle Laws, AKA Boss. One of the best female MCs and a dear friend. Give Rick Royal a hug for me. Long Live The Org!”
DJ Premier also posted about the news and gave flowers. He stated he did a remix of her hit single, but the label never released it; asking if anyone could find it.
BET reported that Laws moved to Dallas in the mid-90s and raised a child. She was also a radio DJ.
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