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Earlier this month, news surfaced that Frank Ocean's Blonde and Endless albums would not be eligible for Grammy nomination because they were reportedly withheld from submission. In response to the reports, Kanye West stopped his Oakland Saint Pablo show to make a promise that he would boycott the Grammys if Frank Ocean isn't nominated for any award.
"The album I listened to the most this year is Frank Ocean’s album," Kanye told his Oakland fans. "And I’ll tell you this right now: if his album’s not nominated in no categories, I’m not showing up to the Grammys. As artists, we gotta come together to fight the bullshit they been throwing us with." Watch fan footage of Kanye's speech and read a full transcript below.
Although Kanye probably means well, it's questionable if Frank Ocean and his camp even want Blonde and Endless to be up for Grammy consideration. However, Chance the Rapper has been taking out Billboard Ads to get Grammy voters to consider his streaming-only Coloring Book album for a nomination.
I don’t know if any of y’all remember, I was supposed to go on tour with [Lady] Gaga. Like about, 6, 7 — a while back. I remember, it was something where she was nominated… She wasn’t nominated for best new artist, right? But they wanted her to perform at the show, they wanted her to open. So the Grammys secretly changed something about the nominations to nominate her in order for her to perform in the show.
Now, Frank Ocean on the other hand is very vocal wasn’t nominated for the Grammys. Since he’s vocal, no one wants to say nothing about it. No one wants to do nothing about it. I’m saying this to y’all, because a lot of people try to make a scene like, ‘I’m so self-centered.’ But the album I listened to the most this year is Frank Ocean’s album. And I’ll tell you this right now: if his album’s not nominated in no categories, I’m not showing up to the Grammys. As artists, we gotta come together to fight the bullshit they been throwing us with. All we need is a fair shot. Let the album lose, let whoever win or lose. My whole point, my purpose, my existence, everything that people try to diss me for is based on just an instant replay plot. Imagine in sports they didn’t have no instant replay plot, and someone could step completely out of bounds.
