I was THE BIGGEST em fan. And I'm black, so I had to defend my stance harder. I argued he was the nicest in the hood with guys arguing it should be Rakim, Nas, B.I.G., Pac, Kool G, Busta, ect.
At one point he was the most lyrical artist to ever do it. The only ones I could even put in his league were Pun and Cannibus. I have to go back and listen to old albums from time to time to remind myself I wasn't caught up in hype. He had the sickest rhyme schemes, wordplay, metaphors, deliveries, timing to make punchlines work, it could probably be factually proven he was the best through science and charts, lol.
He even killed it on the 1st D12 CD and in those battles in the 8 mile movie. Dude was
savage!!!!
If he had died in like 2005, he'd be legendary, but he's been diminishing with every release since MMLP.
R.I.P. Slim.
He's with Pac and B.I.G. now. All we got left is Marshall.