Kanye West is the type of person to make you his manager because he wants you to be. That’s not a joke, that actually happened to Scooter Braun. Today, Braun was on The Bill Simmons’ Podcast and talked a bit about becoming Kanye’s manager. He said that after Kanye made a tweet two years ago about being $53 million in debt, he called Kanye to check in on him. Kanye asked Braun to be his manager, but Braun was reticent. “I don’t wanna manage you, I just wanna be your friend,” Braun recalled telling Kanye.
A week later, he told Kanye that in two weeks (when Kanye returned to LA) they could sit and talk about how Braun could “help him out,” though Braun contended that he didn’t intend for that help to be management. Just two days later, however, Adidas and Def Jam called Braun with business, telling him that Kanye said he was his manager. When Braun called Kanye about it, the Chicago rapper apparently said “I don’t have time to wait, you’re it.” And just like that, Braun has been managing Kanye.
Braun also spoke on Kanye’s “creative genius,” especially when it comes to his live show experience. Several artists have recently denied fans the use of their phones, but Braun says Kanye was on the opposite end of the spectrum for his Saint Pablo tour. Braun recalls that right before the tour opened, he saw Kanye taking selfies, which is uncharacteristic of him. When Braun asked Kanye what he was doing, he learned the artist was taking them in order to make sure that the giant moving stage looked “right” for selfies.
“He knew the culture of where kids are today,” Braun told Simmons. “He built a show that would be shot by their iPhones better than any show before.”
