New York, December 16, 2005 – Hop hop king Kanye West tried to clarify his recent boastful statements (“I’m the greatest”) backstage at Friday’s Z-100 Jingle Ball. “You just have to, like, be yourself. In my speech for the Billboards…basically, I was saying I’m still the same person I was when I came to the game. I didn’t adjust to what people felt like I should be because of my celebrity.” Got that? But, we learned that West does believe there is at least one entity greater than himself. “What made me decide to tour with U2? That’s like saying, somebody’s going to give you a mansion, what made you decide to live in it? What made you take that free ‘Benz, you know?” Maybe next year Kanye will be Time magazine’s "Person of the Year".

Fall Out Boy called their Grammy nomination “F---in’ insane”, and then taunted rival pop group The Click Five, who were within earshot in the next room. “Yo, Click Five! I know you motherf---ers can hear us!” The Click Five guys responded by rushing into the room and starting a suburban-style rumble, madly snapping photos with the Canon PowerShot Digital Elph cameras they’d just snagged in the gift lounge. Clickster dress code was white suits for the concert, and black suits during the afternoon rehearsals.

Shakira jingled around backstage at Madison Square Garden, along with Sean Paul, Rihanna, Natasha Bedingfield, Frankie J. and Chris Brown.