Peace,
Not defending Kanye or arguing in favor of his self-given genius label, but I don’t think bad albums disqualify him. Prince is my all time favorite artist and an absolute genius and he has quite a few sucky albums. Geniuses often make music that isn’t understood or appreciated for years or even decades after it’s released.
Having said that, I think the biggest argument against him being a genius is the fact that he obsessively refers to himself as such. I can’t find evidence of anyone else who I would consider a musical genius doing so. That’s just not how they roll.
^^^
very interesting point.