Kendrick Lamar is a unique showman with his various voices

The argument

The claim here is about performance rather than subject matter. Kendrick Lamar, proponents argue, treats the voice itself as an instrument: he manipulates its tone to convey emotions complex enough to resist plain statement, so the feeling of a line is carried by how it is delivered as much as by what it says. What the technique makes possible is a kind of storytelling few rappers attempt. Rather than narrating from a single fixed vantage point, Lamar tells a story through multiple personas, and he moves between them with the voice alone, shifting inflection, letting the voice crack, changing his enunciation from one passage to the next. Nothing announces the switch; the listener registers a new speaker because the delivery has become a different person's delivery. Sustained across a record, the effect is that the listener feels they are hearing a diverse group of people rather than one man, and that, on this view, is what showmanship amounts to in a form performed by a single voice. Proponents add that the vocal range is not separable from the writing. Lamar manipulates his lyrical choices along with his vocal range, so that what a persona says and the register in which it is said are shaped together, each character's phrasing fitted to the voice carrying it. That coordination is harder than either skill on its own, and it is why the personas hold as characters rather than collapsing into impressions. The conclusion follows from the rarity of the combination. Command of the voice as a technical instrument, the dramatic ability to sustain distinct personas with it, and the lyrical control to match each one add up to an undeniable artistic talent. It is that range, proponents conclude, rather than any single song or era, that makes Kendrick Lamar the best rapper of all time.

Premises

Counter-arguments

While Kendrick Lamar is an incredibly gifted vocalist, this does not necessarily make him the best rapper of all time. It may make him one of the most versatile rappers, but he has yet to leave a sizable mark on the rap community.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Vocal characterisation is one craft among several the question is asking about, and the argument never says why it should outweigh lyricism, influence, longevity or catalogue — the grounds on which the rival positions rest. [Rejecting P2] The listener's impression of hearing several people is a description of an effect, not a measure by which performers can be ranked against one another. [Rejecting P3] Undeniable talent is not the same as being the best of all time. As the counter-argument puts it, this may establish that he is among the most versatile without settling the comparison the question poses.