- Position‹4 of 8›
- Nas is the best rapper
- Argument1 of 3›
Nas defeated Jay Z with diss track “Ether”
After years of feuding between Nas and Jay Z, the former released his diss track, "Ether." The public subsequently crowned him the winner of their battle.
The argument
Nas' ability to win a feud against one of the most successful rappers of all time demonstrates his remarkable skill. Both Jay Z and Nas released diss tracks about each other. In a poll from the Hot 97 radio station, 58% of listeners said they preferred Nas' track, "Ether," over Jay Z's "Supa Ugly." Jay Z may be a business mogul, but any crown he may have held for the best rapper of all time now belongs to Nas.
Premises
Counter-arguments
Nas' ability to defeat Jay Z with "Ether" demonstrates only that Nas is better than Jay Z, not that Nas is the best rapper of all time.
Rejecting the premises
[Rejecting P1] Both artists released tracks in the exchange, which establishes that a feud took place rather than how it resolved. [Rejecting P2] A radio phone-in poll on a New York station is a self-selected sample of one broadcaster's listeners at one moment, taken in the city where the rivalry was most partisan. A 58% share on that basis is a weak instrument for a judgement about skill. [Rejecting P3] The inference does not hold even on its own terms. A single exchange in one format tests the writing of an insult, not range, technique, catalogue or influence, and outcomes in head-to-head contests are not generally taken to establish overall standing in any other field either. [Rejecting C] The counter-argument on record states the decisive objection plainly: winning against one rival, however accomplished, shows at most that one artist bettered another on that occasion — it says nothing about the other candidates in this debate, none of whom the argument mentions.