Usher, Vic Mensa, sign management with Scooter Braun

R&B performer Usher and rising Ghanian-American rapper Vic Mensa have signed with Justin Bieber and Kanye West’s manager Scooter Braun for management.

Braun’s company SB Projects also includes Black Eyed Peas, Martin Garrix, Tori Kelly and Carly Rae Jepsen. He parted with Ariana Grande in February although he’s said to have played a major role in the making of her new album Dangerous Woman.

Speaking at a panel at the 73^rd Cannes Lions earlier this week, Usher told reporters, “I’ve always been in the Scooter family. We actually have worked together on artists, and worked together in business. So it’s just a continuum.”

In fact it was Braun who introduced him to a teenage Bieber, which led to Usher mentoring him. At Cannes Lion, Usher explained Bieber’s appeal: “It was his natural charisma, he has such a bright personality. Success has many fathers. There wasn’t just one thing I saw in Justin. There were people around his talent. His manager, Scooter Braun introduced me to him. He wanted to develop him with someone who he knew would be able to help him.”

The 37-year-old Usher, the eight-time Grammy winner, has gone through a number of managers since he himself emerged as a teen star They included his mother Jonetta Patton, Benny Medina (Jennifer Lopez), one-time AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips, and last year, Usher’s wife Grace Miguel with Live Nation’s Arthur Fogel and Maverick Management partner Ron Lafitte.

Usher’s eighth studio album Flawed, initially set to be issued last year, looks like being released in July. Two singles No Limit (ft Young Thug) and Crash already out. Producers on the album included Pharrell Williams, Eric Bellinger, Jermaine Dupri, Bryan-Michael Cox and Brian Alexander Morgan. He performs at the BET Music Awards on June 26.

Flawed is the follow up to 2012’s Looking 4 Myself. He explains his thinking behind the upcoming record: "I find the inspiration every time I find a word: what is ’flawed?’ It’s something that is not perfect. It’s a future relic of some sorts, to grow and blossom and gain texture.

“But it is those things, those tumultuous occurrences and things that happen in your life that define what it is, and in our country and us as people. All of these things are standards, and I became the inspiration. Now I can’t tell you yet at the end what it’s gonna be, but right now it’s Flawed."

With Mensa, who is based in Chicago and signed to Roc Nation, Braun will co-manage with by Cody Kazarian. Mensa was discovered by Kanye West and appeared on West’s track Wolves with Sia. Last year West appeared on Mensa’s U Mad. He’s just released an EP called There’s Alot Going On, before dropping his long awaited debut album Traffic.

Braun’s SB Projects also includes SB Films which made the successful documentary Justin Bieber: Never Say Never; Silent Labs which handles Braun’s investments in start-ups like Uber and Spotify; and music label Schoolboy Records which signed Psy and Carly Rae Jepsen. Known for his philanthropy and social justice, he’s currently spearheading a gun control campaign.