Kanye West wants snappers to pay him

Kanye West wants to change the law to make the paparazzi pay to take his picture.

The Stronger rapper is currently facing battery charges over an alleged scuffle with a snapper at an airport in California in July (13), and he has now opened up about his complicated relationship with the photographers who follow him.

West insists the paparazzi are a "necessary" part of fame, but he is convinced he would be more tolerant of them if they shared the profits from their photographs.

The hip-hop star wants laws to be changed so celebrities can make money from the snappers, and he hopes it will be common place by the time his baby daughter, North West, his first child with reality TV star Kim Kardashian, grows up.

He tells Britain's BBC Radio 1, "Paparazzi is necessary, not even a necessary evil, it just needs to be legalised, meaning at a certain point there's cut-off switches... They're selling our image and they're selling it in a bad way. I'm changing things for my daughter and I'm going to tell my daughter by the time she understands what it was, 'Me and your mother were in a completely different situation than you're in. You see all this cheques you're getting age six because people are taking your picture, you don't have to worry about a thing ever again just because people want to take your picture, and I made that happen.'"

The rapper is facing legal action from videographer Daniel Ramos, who has accused West of wrestling him to the ground and trying to grab his camera at Los Angeles International Airport in July (13).

West has been charged with battery and attempted grand theft over the incident. The star, who maintains he acted in self-defence, faces a year behind bars if convicted of the charges.