RapReviews | Review: Boss – Born Gangstaz
For the record…she doesn’t give a fuck, not a single fuck, not a single solitary fuck. This is the mantra in play for the entirety of the 1993 debut release from Boss, “Born Gangstaz”. For what it’s worth, Boss was actually a duo consisting of Lichelle “Boss” Laws and her DJ partner Irene “Dee” Moore, but much like the currently re-emerging Sade, the group took the name of the premier artist. The story of Boss (the group) is filled with valleys and peaks, and are only slightly eclipsed by the story of Boss (the individual). As a group, trying to secure a deal took Lichelle and Dee from their native Detroit, to New York, back to the D and off to California. With a survivalist mentality, the ladies did everything they had to do in order to get by, short of resorting to the world’s oldest profession. The girls eventually found their way to DJ Quik’s management team at the time, which helped to get them off the street. Their biggest break didn’t come until they met with Russell Simmons and signed to his Def Jam West imprint, where he would make them his pet project of sorts. Uncle Rush felt that the same women that were purchasing music by the likes of N.W.A. and Ice Cube would also buy into the same type of rap from females if given the opportunity to do so. With top-notch producers like Erick Sermon, the late Jam Master Jay, MC Serch and Def Jef (whom they had met before), Boss was ready to take the world by storm.
After a short introduction, the album kicks off with the Barry White-sampling lead single, “Deeper”. Just after the audio clip of Eddie Murphy in “Beverly Hills Cop II” proclaims “this is deep, but I’m goin’ deeper”, Boss (for the sake of sanity, all further references to Boss will be in reference to the individual, unless noted) goes deep into her rhymes about feelings of despair and trying to make a way out when none seems to be in sight.
