I still remember back in the day hearing doom at the arcade for the 1st time from some east coast cat, and being like yooo who is this?! Since about 2002/2003 I've been a fan.
He carved such a crazy lane for himself, he was well respected by the nerds, back packers, white boys, and even some hood nikkas rocked with him.
It's like he literally paved out his own road brick by brick, he stuck to his guns, and he rapped for the love of rapping.
I think when it's all said and done people can recognize those who do it for the love and for the passion, so even if someone doesn't like person or style they can't help but respect the dedication and skill.
DOOM always reminded me of one of my competitive gaming homies back in the arcade day. A dude that was all about the grind, perfecting his craft and loved it with a passion.. But just also a random down to earth dude.
To top it all off, he had a style that other mc's study and still mimic, his lyrical skill was insane. He could rap you around the world and back and still be on topic, the way he connected words, painted pictures and then tied it all to a persona and a comic book persona at a time when that wasn't what was poppin outside of being a nerd.
it's all insane.
Again a 1 of 1.
There aren't many true genre defining legends in the rap game but he was easily in the top 5 if not 3. And to keep it a buck, it would be hard to debate anyone that puts him as #1