Scooter Braun Didn't Know He Was Kanye's Manager When He Was Kanye's Manager

by HHL JT

It's safe to say Kanye marches to the beat of his own drummer.

Scooter Braun, his manager, would certainly say that. Braun didn't even know he was 'Ye's manager when he became Ye's manager in 2015.

He explained how it all went down on Bill Simmons' podcast.

Braun first met West in 2003 on Ludacris's "Stand Up" video, back when Kanye was just known as a producer. The two stayed in touch over the years, but things changed during a troubled part of Kanye's life.

"Kanye puts out that tweet saying he's 56 million dollars in debt," Braun said. "I'm his friend, so I called him just to say 'Are you okay?' No business, nothing. And then we started talking and he's like, 'You should manage me, be part of this team.' I said 'I don't wanna manage you, I just wanna be your friend.'"

"Literally a week later, I said 'When you get back in town in two weeks, we'll sit down and talk and see how I can help you out,' but it wasn't, like, work together. And I get a phone call two days later from Def Jam and from Adidas, both saying we were told to talk to you and that you're Kanye's manager. I call him up and I'm like, 'Dude, what the hell?' and he's like, 'I don't have time to wait, you're it, you're in.' I became his manager from that point on. We started co-managing with [Izzy Zivkovic] and we've been managing Kanye for two years."

Jump to the 29-minute mark to hear Braun talk 'Ye.