Kanye West's manager explains $77m debt

The rapper received little sympathy for his financial predicament when he made begging posts on Twitter. Photo / Getty Images

Kanye West's new manager Scooter Braun puts the rapper's financial troubles down to generosity.

Scooter, 34, who also manages pop sensation Justin Bieber, was brought in as the rapper's co-manager in March tasked with furthering his career as an artist, fashion designer and entrepreneur.

The 38-year-old hip-hop star wrote on Twitter earlier this year that he had run up huge debts of $US53 million (NZ$77 million) pursuing his artistic vision. In a series of eccentric tweets he also begged billionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for cash to fund his artistic projects.

The music management mogul says the reason his client is in financial difficulty despite selling millions of records and being married to multimillionaire reality star Kim Kardashian, is his outlandish generosity.

"A lot of people have an assumption about him (Kanye) might be selfish or arrogant," he tells veteran US broadcaster Charlie Rose.

"The guy I've gotten to know who I'm learning to translate to others is someone who literally got himself in financial trouble because he would give the shirt off his back to help someone. He's literally one of the most giving human beings I've ever met in my entire life."

Scooter adds, "He doesn't know how to say no when someone needs help and he feels like he can truly help everyone and when he gets frustrated its because he's not trying to make money, or he's not trying to take as much wealth, he's trying to say 'let me help, let me help, let me help'."

The rapper received little sympathy for his financial predicament when he made begging posts on Twitter in February, and admitted to needing investment for artistic endeavours despite his personal wealth.

"Yes I am personally rich and I can buy furs and houses for my family," Kanye wrote on the social media site, "but I need access to more money in order to bring more beautiful ideas to the world."

Despite his client's strange online behaviour and egotistical public image, Scooter thinks the rapper is aware of how he is perceived."I think he understands," the management guru adds. "I can understand Kanye to a certain point. I think only Kanye can truly understand Kanye."

- WENN