boss

1) adj

excellent, first-rate, superlative.

Currently a fashionable word among teenagers all over the English-speaking community, boss originated in American black street jargon of the early 1960s. It was picked up by other speakers, but it remained an Americanism. (The music industry attempted to promote the 'Boss town sound' in order to establish Boston as the US equivalent of Liverpool in 1964; Duane Eddy had a 1960s hit with Boss Guitar.) In the 1970s and 1980s the usage spread through the language of disco, funk and rap to the young of Britain and Australia.

2) n

a term of address for a stranger or friend, like blood, bredren, cuz, bro', etc. An item of black street-talk used especially by males, recorded in 2003 in the UK.