I like classy headlines, don’t you? Kanye West, ego of all egos, second coming of Christ, and I think Buddha himself (all in his own opinion) showed an incredibly rare moment of humility this past weekend when he won an award that – by his own estimation – he didn’t deserve.

“Kanye West displayed a rare moment of humility at the BET Hip-Hop Awards on Sunday night. After winning the Video of the Year award for ‘Stronger,’ West took the stage and poked fun at all of the trophies he was passed over for (he lost in all five categories he was nominated for at the MTV Video Music Awards).

“‘Every time I’m nominated for something I fix my scarf, but then I don’t be comin’ up,’ he cracked. He then became uncharacteristically humble and said that he thought the groups UGK and Outkast deserved the award instead for their collaborated song ‘International Players Anthem.’

“‘I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to win an award I shouldn’t win,’ West said, calling the groups to come take his statue. After UGK and Big Boi of Outkast took the stage, they thanked the 30-year-old rapper but then gave the award back to West, saying that he deserved it. The love-in ended with West accepting the award back and everyone leaving the stage.”

[From Us Weekly]

Um… I don’t know what to say? When writing articles about Kanye West, our job is usually to incessantly mock his unshakeable ego and/or compliment his extremely good sense in home décor. I don’t really know what to say when he’s being regular. Thanks for being one of the people? Or at least admitting how awesome Outkast is? I feel so impotent right now.

I feel like we should employ some sort of basic, Pavlovian conditioning with Kanye and give him a cookie or something. Then next time he’s bad, we’ll blow a whistle in his ear. Eventually, if he starts behaving himself more often and being gracious and a good loser, he’ll become really, really fat. And if not, he’ll be deaf. Sounds like a pretty good incentive to be decent to people all the time. Now if only he’d say sorry to MTV, I’d bake him a cake.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Kanye at Paris Fashion Week on October 5th. Header image at the In Touch Magazine’s 5th Anniversary party at Tenjune Nightclub, Manhattan, NY on Friday. Images thanks to Splash Photos.

If you’re anything like me, you were probably sitting around, looking at your wall, and thinking, “Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the richest rap mogul of them all?” If your mirror said Jay-Z, you should give it some Windex. Jay-Z was just named the richest rapper by Forbes.com. I thought they were supposed to spend their time talking about financial markets, stocks, and making people panic over real estate. But it seems that lately, Forbes is spending the majority of their time coming out with “The richest…” lists. Last week they had “The richest bald man” and “The richest one legged farmer.” Okay not really, but I would read Forbes a lot more if they did. Okay not really.

“Jay-Z wins all around, says Forbes.com. He’s got Beyonce on his arm _ and more millions than 50 Cent and Diddy. The rap icon, aka Shawn Carter, is No. 1 on the site’s list of “Hip-Hop Cash Kings,” based solely on 2006 income. He banked an estimated $34 million, Forbes.com said Thursday.

“Jay-Z, president and CEO of Def Jam Recordings, released his 11th studio album, ‘Kingdom Come,’ which sold around 2 million copies. Jay-Z, 37, is also part owner of the New Jersey Nets and has endorsement deals with Budweiser, Hewlett-Packard and General Motors.”

[From Forbes.com]

It might be good to be Jay-Z – yeah you have a lot of money, and Beyonce at your beck and call singing that “Cater 2U” song (blech) – but you’d also have to deal with that crazy mother of hers, Tina Knowles. You know, that lady that’s always trying to drape people in the fur of live puppies? Well her clothing line is one of the few out there that still uses fur, and to me it’s all the same thing. Who else makes a lot of money and doesn’t come wit the bizarre mother?

“Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson ranks second with an estimated $32 million. The 31-year-old rapper-businessman oversees his G-Unit record label, clothing line, ring tones and other enterprises, and has sold more than 11 million albums. His latest record, ‘Curtis,’ is due out Sept. 11.

“Diddy (real name: Sean Combs) placed third with an estimated $28 million. A fashion plate, he has a clothing line, Sean John, and heads Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment and its record label. Diddy, 37, is also host of MTV’s ‘Making the Band’ series.

“Rounding out the top five are Timbaland ($21 million) and Dr. Dre ($20 million). They’re followed by Eminem ($18 million); Snoop Dogg, Kanye West, Pharrell Williams and Scott Storch (all $17 million); Ludacris and T.I. (both $16 million); Outkast and Lil Jon (both $14 million); Ice Cube ($13 million); Jermaine Dupri and Swizz Beatz (both $12 million); Chamillionaire and The Game (both $11 million); and Young Joc ($10 million).”

[From Forbes.com]

You could be at the bottom of that group and still be doing pretty well for yourself. I have no idea who Swizz Beatz (sounds like the name of a cheap watch) or any of the guys after him are, but I’m pretty sure I could learn to love them, given the chance.

Picture note by JayBird: Here’s Jay-Z and Beyonce at the Black and White Ball. Header image of Jay-Z at Giant Magazine’s celebration of Rihanna’s new album on June 3rd. Images thanks to PR Photos.