Kanye West is a "real joker". 'The Bound 2' rapper - who has 17-month-old daughter North with wife Kim Kardashian West - may always appear to be very serious or moody, but his stepbrother, Hal Carmichael, says he is much different in private.

Hal, whose mother, Cheryl, married Kanye's dad, Ray, in 1997, said: "Kanye doesn't smile in public, but he's always smiling with us. He's a real joker; he's really witty and makes Kim laugh all the time. When he looks moody, it's because he's thinking, he never stops planning in his head. But behind closed doors, he's always smiling.

He doesn't take himself seriously. When he gets off stage, he's just normal, funny Kanye. He doesn't rant."

Hal insists Kanye hasn't changed with fame and is as "humble" and down-to-earth as he was as a teenager.

He added in an interview with Heat magazine: "No matter how big Kanye gets, or how much money he makes, he's still the same humble guy who sat in college sketching trainers onto his books".