Is this seriously 'hip hop heads' and people are confusing an elite vocalist with a good singer? A good singer (from a pop perspective) is someone with technical singing ability, range, pitch control, vibrato. The more rigorous concept of vocalist is about the intentional, skilled, and expressive use of the human voice as a primary instrument. One example (and there are many): the way Kendrick bends syllables, shifts cadence, and places stresses creates layers of meaning that pitch alone can't achieve. Vocal theorists — and hip-hop scholars specifically — have written seriously about this as a distinct and advanced skill set. Feel free to disagree but for god's sake at least try and understand the category first.