Well, if you read any of my posts you'd already know I specified it as being influential in sound (is there another kind of influential there that isn't periphery?). And all your points about collabos are moot because I -again already- specified that cross-genre collabos skyrocketed after Ye burst on the scene, and his subject matter melded with that of stuff like pop enough that it spawned a generation of artists that could easily do the same and get in on that pop money. Case and point: Drake and Flo-Rida wouldn't be on every other Rihanna and Katy Perry song and vice versa if it wasn't for the foundation Kanye laid. That shit happening in 2002? Nope. Like someone else said in this thread, everyone is watching what Kanye does next, whether they hate him or like him. They know from TCD and Graduation especially that what he does may be a gamechanger implicitly like it has been in the past. And they clearly haven't embraced him because he's not as cool of a guy as MJ was, Kanye was never a child-star from the start, Kanye didn't start in a genre that had the widest appeal, etc. etc. etc.
This is a good point against Kanye.
I would argue that those early rap legends which ppl highlight were INCREDIBLY influential, especially within hip hop. But they haven't had the evolution and longevity that Kanye has. What rapper can claim the switchups from CD to 808s to Graduation to MBDTF/WTT?
Kanye has continued to evolve and change, whereas the majority of those groups basically owned one lane, but didn't move past it. The closest I'd say would be Eric B/Rakim, and even they can't claim Kanye's longevity.
Also- no one is MJ. MJ is stadium worldwide status. Kanye is arena-tier. Different universes. But in terms of ambition, reach and longevity and influence, there is a lot of MJ in Kanye. I mean, who is closer? Serious question