Kanye West claims he ended Frank Ocean’s career
Kanye West has called out Frank Ocean, claiming he “ended” the singer’s career. Despite working together in the past, Ye has asserted that his 2021 song ‘Moon’, a collaboration with Don Toliver on his Donda album, is better than anything Ocean has ever recorded.
During his recent interview with Akademiks, Kanye claimed he’s the reason why Ocean hasn’t released an album since 2016’s Blonde. He also referenced lyrics from a recent Ocean snippet that appeared in a vlog from his rumoured UFC fighter boyfriend, Payton Talbott.
“No one makes music that’s nowhere as near as good as [me],” he said. “When I made ‘Moon’, it basically ended Frank Ocean’s [career]. He ain’t have a song since then. He was like, ‘Sipping some wine.’ I heard it and was like, ‘Oh, this n*gga’s never gonna be able to make another album again.’ Any genre of music that anyone has, I make a better version of it.”
Kanye collaborated with Ocean on ‘Frank’s Track’ from 2016’s The Life of Pablo album and ‘New Slaves’ from 2013’s Yeezus. Ocean was also featured in ‘No Church in the Wild’ and ‘Made in America’ from Ye’s Watch the Throne album with Jay-Z in 2012.
During an interview with SHOWstudio in 2015, Kanye praised Ocean for coming out as gay and his impact on society. “Like, people don’t have a problem with white rappers now because Eminem ended up being the greatest artist, and everyone thought that with Frank Ocean,” he said.
“I think it’s so cliché to mention him with this subject, but there always are people who broke the ground and I think he is the one who broke the ground because people don’t give a fuck. People love his music so much. The people who break the stereotypes make history.”
Then, in 2016, he said he would boycott the Grammy Awards if Ocean wasn’t nominated for Blonde. “The album I listen to the most this year is Frank Ocean’s album,” he said on tour. “I’ll tell you this right now: if his album’s not nominated in no categories, I’m not showin’ up to the Grammys.”