Kanye Says ‘I Can’t Be Managed,’ Parts Ways With Scooter Braun
April 25, 2018
Kanye West is a free agent. The Chicago renaissance man announced on Twitter that he's parted ways with his co-manager Scooter Braun. In a stream-of-consciousness tweet storm on Wednesday (April 25), West described why he got rid of his managerial and legal team.
"I no longer have a manager," Kanye wrote. "I can't be managed. I'm nobody's 'client.' Yes I got rid of my last lawyer why? Because he wouldn't come to work full time. I also asked my last manager to come work full time for Yeezy of course the last lawyer and manager said no. So now I hired a CEO and a CFO and I have two full time lawyers as of now."
On Tuesday, Billboard reported that Braun and West were no longer working together. An anonymous source claimed the reason for the split was Kanye leaving "the traditional music business." Braun is the second high-profile manager Kanye has split with this year — in March, the rapper and Izvor “Izzy” Zivkovic ended their business relationship, Variety reported.
During an interview on "The Bill Simmons Podcast" back in February, Braun — who also manages Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande — discussed how he first met Kanye in 2003 and how he became his manager 13 years later.
"Kanye puts out that tweet saying he's 56 million dollars in debt and I'm his friend, so I called him just to say, 'Are you OK?'" Braun recalled. "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 want to manage you, I just want to be your friend. We've had this conversation.' This is about two-and-a-half years ago.
"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,'" Braun continued. "I get a phone call two days later from Def Jam and from Adidas both saying, 'We were told to talk to you, that you're Kanye's manager.'"
With Grande recently kicking off a new musical era with "No Tears Left To Cry," it's safe to say Braun has his hands full — Kanye or no Kanye.