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Originally Posted by Severian
No offense, but you're way off on both accounts. There ARE a ton of Kanye-influenced rappers out there, retreading the new-wave-positive-tip soul sound Kanye's first two albums defined. In addition, there is a whole slew of rappers who are stepping on Post-Graduation Kanye's heels, trying to pull of genre melding game changing chart-topper concept albums and "fuck you" self makeovers.
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You're going to have to have these guys in quotes saying the were inspired or influenced by Kanye because (a) I don't necessarily hear it in their records and (b) there are plenty of other conscious/neo-soul rappers out there NOT names Kanye and not necessarily influenced by Kanye. You may have to separate yourself as a Kanye fan for this one. Just because other rappers are making innovative records, doesn't inherently mean its influenced or inspired by Kanye West and what Kanye's records are doing. You may be conflating his
popularity and
reach with actual
substantive musical influence.
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Seriously though, everybody is benefitting from something Kanye's done. He brought rap out of its coma like a shot of narcan and adrenaline to an OD victim.
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I disagree with you completely, rap was
never in coma, rap was never in decline, and initially on this very thread Kanye fans have argued that Kanye isn't even a rapper!!!
If anything, the fact that rap has been increasingly successful has been what has directly benefited Kanye West, not the other way around 
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Outkast has very few imitators as obvious as Kanye and Radiohead, but I think you're probably right that Outkast was to rap what Radiohead was to rock in the early '00s. Something new, even though both bands were already seasoned and in the middle-late eras of their respective careers.
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Outkast took huge risks in their sound, it could have backfired, they didn't care. Radiohead could have made a bunch of records that sounded like "Creep" or "OK Computer" and yet they didn't. I think that is how we can compare them, but not necessarily in regards to range of influence. I just don't buy into the critical assertions that radiohead is an "influential" band. They are a popular band, and have made some phenomenal records which I personally consider some of the best of all time, but just didn't hear a radiohead "sound" accept for possibly in between the "Creep" single and "OK Computer" when basically ALL British college/indie rock bands sounded like that. I wouldn't say they were all influenced by radiohead, if anything, radiohead was just going with the "sound" of their era until they made a radical departure with Kid A. I've never heard Muse or Coldplay really make that kind of artistic leap, all their records essentially sound the exact same (my sister is a muse freak, I dated a coldplay fan albeit reluctantly)..
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Kanye comes from a slightly different timeline, and is different from both in that rather than expanding on a sound until it was unrecognizable and fresh, Kanye has been flipping 180's for three albums straight on his own, and peppering them with his side projects (Watch the throne, Cruel Summer). Radiohead and Outkast took their sounds to the sonic left, and then pushed them in that direction, but that's really only ONE sonic turnaround. Kanye's already been through three or four distinct and unique stages as an artist, each one a step into completely new territory.
Anyway...
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That maybe true, and I can agree that there are many rappers who want to look or sound like kanye, but I completely disagree with your premise that he revived or revolutionized rap music, rap music was fine without him, and if anything, he was revolutionized by it.