Lil Slim - Biography
By Eric Brightwell
Lil Slim was one of the first artists to be signed to Cash Money Records. After a series of underground classics, he acrimoniously parted ways with the label. A couple of years later, CMR signed a multi-million dollar deal with Universal and the label's stars, B.G. and Juvenile, carried the heavily re-shuffled roster to considerable success whilst Lil Slim remained largely in the shadows.
Lil Slim lived way out in the 17th Ward on New Orleans's western edge in Hollygrove, a small, working class neighborhood that also was home to Big Boy (and later, No Limit) artist, Fiend. Representing the Apple and Eagle intersection, he brought his raps to audiences at uptown clubs like Big Man’s, Club Detour and Newton’s, where he rapped with UNLV and Soulja Slim. Ziggler the Wiggler introduced Lil Slim to Baby and Slim, brothers and co-owners of the fledgling Cash Money Records label who’d recently begun a relationship with producer Mannie Fresh. Cash Money signed Lil Slim and recorded his first album in Baby's kitchen.
The album, The Game is Cold (1993-Cash Money Records), with highlights like "Hoes I U's 2 Sweat” and "Bounce Slide Ride," features Lil Slim’s sing-songy, reggae-informed delivery and repetitive, chant-heavy vocals that echo better known bounce rappers like Pimp Daddy and early Juvenile. The album’s “Intro” and “Outro” tracks allowed Mannie Fresh to cut snippets of Slim's already sparse prose and make them almost completely abstract while at the same time showing some of the influence of his time with innovative house producer, Steve “Silk” Hurley, with whom Mannie Fresh had recently spent some time.
Lil Slim’s sophomore release, Powder Shop (1994-Cash Money Records), moved a bit more into a more narrative, west coast-indebted gangsta territory, in the gangsta-bounce hybrid made popular by his labelmates, UNLV. "Eagle St. Bounce," "True to tha Game" and "Powder $hop," were all good but at just six tracks, it suggested that Baby’s later assertions about early Cash Money artists being less than ambitious may’ve had bore a grain of truth. The year of its release, Lil Slim discovered his 11-year-old neighbor, then rapping as Shrimp Daddy who, after joining Cash Money achieved global stardom as Lil Wayne.
Lil Slim's final album for Cash Money was Thug'n & Pluggin (1995) which saw him (and especially Mannie Fresh's production) making further concessions to West Coast styles on G-Funk flavored tracks like "Bitches Ain't Shit," "Gangsta Day," "Shakem Up Shakem," "Time to Murder" and the excellent "Hands on My Gun." "Live in Club Rolex (Real High)" with its heavy use of the triggerman beat from the Showboys' "Drag Rap" was a throwback to Lil Slim's straight bounce beginnings. After its release, he parted ways with CMR, citing lack of royalties. On the other hand, Baby and Slim alleged that the artists they let go were undisciplined and too caught up in the dope game. Considering Slims lyrics and, by rap standards, miniscule output, there may be some truth to those allegations as well.
Since leaving the label, Lil Slim released another mini-album, the six-track, Lil Slim's Back (1998-Franchise Player). In 2005, he appeared in Dawayne Morgan’s documentary, New Orleans Exposed. More recently, he released the song “Let the Street Be the Court.”
When Cash Money stars talk about their influences at the label, U.N.L.V. and Pimp Daddy invariably get the most credit. However, early Lil Wayne (whom Lil Slim discovered) and especially Turk at times sound remarkably like the first star off Apple and Eagle, the under-sung Lil Slim. Considering the violent deaths of former Cash Money rappers like Kilo-G, Pimp Daddy and Yella Boy, at least Lil Slim can count his blessings that he’s at least still here, currently living in Vacaville, California.
