Dead Boss, a Detroit-born rapper who became famous as the first woman to sign to Def Jam Records. She was 54 years old.
Her stage colleagues have already said goodbye to her on social media, including: Bun B and DJ Premier.
Boss (sometimes stylized as Bo$$, real name Lichelle Marie Laws) rapped on the song in 1991 AMG “Mai Sista Izza Bitch”. The recording caught the attention of the label’s management, who decided to sign a contract with her. This is how her debut and only solo album appeared – “Born Gangstaz” (1993). It was produced, among others, by: AMG, Erick Sermon and JamMasterJay.
Def Jef was responsible for the most recognizable single from the album – “Deeper”which reached number 65 on the American Hot 100. It used samples from the classic “I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby” Barry White, and the fragment was interpolated “Under The Bridge” Red Hot Chili Peppers. Thanks to the song, the album sold hundreds of thousands of copies.
Her career was damaged by a Wall Street Journal article published in 1994. The journalist suggested that Boss wasn’t “from the streets” at all, and that in fact she grew up middle class and attended college. Even though she rapped about it on her album, it had a heavy impact on her career.
In the mid-1990s, she moved to Dallas and raised her child and worked as a radio DJ. Although she tried to return to the label, Def Jam was no longer interested in her projects. In the early 2000s, she began to suffer from kidney disease, and in 2021, a fundraiser was organized to transplant one of them. In 2017, she suffered a stroke.