--- title: Kanye West To Boycott Grammys if Frank Ocean Isn't Nominated description: Kanye West told Oakland, CA concertgoers that he would boycott the Grammy Awards if Frank Ocean didn't score a nomination. canonical: https://time.com/4542478/kanye-west-grammys-boycott-frank-ocean-nominated/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-24T16:09:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:37:55.772Z og:title: Kanye Will Boycott the Grammys If Frank Ocean Isn't Nominated og:description: 'Ye has nothing but love for Ocean, but there's a catch og:url: https://time.com/4542478/kanye-west-grammys-boycott-frank-ocean-nominated/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdeaba67a476c5a4d/6988ab405f570fd736b23009/kanye-west-frank-ocean-grammys-boycott.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: The Meadows Music & Arts Festival - Day 2 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Kanye Will Boycott the Grammys If Frank Ocean Isn't Nominated twitter:description: 'Ye has nothing but love for Ocean, but there's a catch twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdeaba67a476c5a4d/6988ab405f570fd736b23009/kanye-west-frank-ocean-grammys-boycott.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Kanye West Says He's Boycotting the Grammys If Frank Ocean Isn't Nominated  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Oct 24, 2016 4:09 PM UTC  Kanye West performs onstage during The Meadows Music & Arts Festival Day 2 on October 2, 2016 in Queens, New York. (Photo by Taylor Hill/Getty Images for The Meadows) Kanye West performs onstage during The Meadows Music & Arts Festival Day 2 on October 2, 2016 in Queens, New York. (Photo by Taylor Hill/Getty Images for The Meadows)Taylor Hill—Getty Images for The Meadows  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Oct 24, 2016 4:09 PM UTC [Kanye West](http://time.com/4411055/kanye-west-taylor-swift-kim-kardashian-feud/) took to the stage during Saturday’s [Saint Pablo tour stop](http://time.com/4368041/kanye-west-saint-pablo-tour/) in Oakland, Calif., to deliver an impassioned speech about his friend and collaborator, [Frank Ocean](http://time.com/4439541/frank-ocean-new-album-boys-dont-cry-info/). Yeezy went so far as to declare that he would boycott the [2017 Grammy Awards](http://time.com/4225261/2016-grammys-taylor-swift-kanye-west/) if Ocean didn’t receive nominations for his two recent releases, _Blonde_ and _Endless_. West’s ultimatum, however, might be fruitless since a Grammy rep confirmed to [_Billboard_](http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7542122/frank-ocean-disqualified-grammy-awards-2017)that neither of Ocean’s albums were submitted for consideration, even though both were released before the Sept. 30 eligibility cutoff date. _Billboard_ also reported that the decision not to submit might have even been intentional on the part of Ocean and his team. Like many of Ocean’s [famously ardent and long-suffering fans](http://time.com/4440866/frank-ocean-new-album-internet-reactions/), however, West wants to make sure that Ocean is getting the recognition he deserves. “The album I listen to the most this year is Frank Ocean’s album,” he said. “I’ll tell you this right now, if his album is not nominated in no categories, I’m not showing up to the Grammys. As artists, we’ve got to come together to fight the bullshit.” He later encouraged the head of the Grammys to “come and holla at ‘Ye.” Watch Kanye’s full speech below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4542478/kanye-west-grammys-boycott-frank-ocean-nominated/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4542478/kanye-west-grammys-boycott-frank-ocean-nominated/"},"headline":"Kanye West Says He's Boycotting the Grammys If Frank Ocean Isn't Nominated","datePublished":"2016-10-24T16:09:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:37:55.772Z","description":"'Ye has nothing but love for Ocean, but there's a catch","url":"https://time.com/4542478/kanye-west-grammys-boycott-frank-ocean-nominated/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Music","Kanye West","grammys","celebrity","Frank Ocean","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdeaba67a476c5a4d/6988ab405f570fd736b23009/kanye-west-frank-ocean-grammys-boycott.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdeaba67a476c5a4d/6988ab405f570fd736b23009/kanye-west-frank-ocean-grammys-boycott.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Meadows Music & Arts Festival - Day 2","caption":"The Meadows Music & Arts Festival - Day 2","creditText":"Taylor Hill—Getty Images for The Meadows","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4542478/kanye-west-grammys-boycott-frank-ocean-nominated/","name":"Kanye West Says He's Boycotting the Grammys If Frank Ocean Isn't Nominated"}}]}] ```