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Food shortage is not something many Americans would ever be able to predict in the cards for the country. With a nation that boasts an abundance of just about everything, buzz about a potential shortage of one of American’s most preferred foods is not something many would take lightly.

Unfortunately for Americans, the country is currently on the verge of a massive chicken crisis. According to agriculture professionals and fast-food executives, increased demand and decreased poultry supply during the pandemic have created this dire situation. 

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Fast-food executives specifically note the difficulty in stocking enough chicken in their facilities like nuggets, tenders, wings, patties, and all other shapes and sizes to appease the American hunger for chicken. “Demand for the new sandwich has been so strong that, coupled with general tightening in domestic chicken supply, our main challenge has been keeping up with that demand,” said David Gibbs, who is CEO of Yum Brands. 

The chairman and CEO of Wingstop said this week, “Suppliers are struggling, just as many in our industry are, to hire people to process chicken, thus placing unexpected pressure on the amount of birds that can be processed and negatively affecting supply of all parts of the chicken in the U.S., not just wings.”

Chicken has been the most in-demand meat in the United States for years, and the COVID-19 pandemic severely affected the poultry industry and is part of the reason for this deficit. Coronavirus restrictions caused poultry plants to reduce staff, although the demand for chicken increased as millions of Americans were forced to stay inside. Bad weather and power outrages in major chicken-producing areas like Texas and Arkansas also contributed to creating this crisis. 

One industry official in North Carolina even predicted the low supply might become worse as the weather gets warmer and people begin grilling more regularly. Right now, there’s no word on how the country plans to combat this. 

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Drake hasn’t provided many updates on the status of his upcoming studio album Certified Lover Boy, but he’s been providing his fans with a lot of content on social media. These days, we’re lucky to hear from the artist every other day as he seemingly ramps up his presence in advance of the album’s release. This morning, he was busy on Instagram, sharing a video of his three-year-son Adonis reacting to LeBron James highlights on YouTube. He also noticed a video from Moneybagg Yo that went viral on the blogs of the rapper reacting to his government name being broadcast by Music Choice.

The service was playing his hit record “Time Today” from his new #1 album A Gangsta’s Pain but the Memphis rapper wasn’t concerned about the promotion of his song. Instead, he was more worried about the possible implications of Music Choice giving away his government name as a fun fact.

“Did you know? Moneybagg Yo’s real name is Demario Dewayne White Jr.,” wrote Music Choice on the side of the screen to curious fans. “Police as hell… what the f*ck wrong with y’all, Music Choice? Appreciate the love but damn! Talking about, did y’all know his real name?”

Appearing in the comments, Drake decided to make fun of Moneybagg Yo for his government name, writing, “DD White mayne,” next to four laughing emojis.

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In other government name-related news, Diddy recently announced that he legally changed his name to Sean Love Combs. Read more about that here.

Check out our latest digital cover story with Moneybagg Yo here.

Fortnite, the battle-royale phenomenon created by Epic Games, is easily one of the most popular games of the modern era. And while many have acknowledged its popularity, sometimes begrudgingly, it’s hard to fathom just how lucrative Fortnite really is. At least, until now.

Complex has reported that new documents have surfaced in the midst of an ongoing legal battle between Epic Games and Apple, which currently centers around Apple’s removal of Fortnite from the App Store. According to the documents, Fortnite brought in five billion dollars in 2018, as well as an additional four billion in revenue in 2019. Suffice it to say, that’s over nine billion dollars in only two years. Complex also notes that Epic Games reported five-and-a-half billion in profits.

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Given that Fortnite is a free-to-play game in which the bulk of the profit is made through microtransactions (think skins and emotes), it’s clear that the target audience is more than willing to shell out the dollars in droves. Gaming website Kotaku shares a few contextual examples to emphasize the scope of Fortnite’s profitability, noting that Disney previously purchased Star Wars and Lucasfilm for around four billion dollars. 

And to think, Fortnite isn’t Epic Games’ only source of revenue. Rocket League, which they acquired in 2019, brought in a haul of one-hundred-and-eight million dollars. Their Unreal Engine, widely utilized in the gaming industry, led to an additional two-hundred-and-twenty million dollars. 

As for the ongoing court case, which began Monday: Epic’s lawsuit essentially centers around Apple being a monopoly and abusing its business practices by essentially forcing developers to acquiesce to Apple’s 30% cut should they want to be included on the App Store. Gamespot confirms that a judge will render a verdict in three weeks’ time. 

We all knew Fortnite was popular, but seeing those numbers are a truly staggering reminder of how deep its cultural impact truly runs. Be honest — have you spent any money on the game? 

Considering his prominent position in music and popular culture, it is almost hard to believe Lil Nas X has yet to even release a full-length debut album. He kicked off the rollout of the upcoming project with the controversial lead single “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” which earned Nas a wave of backlash for the satanic imagery used in the visuals associated with the project.  

Despite the backlash, the song went on to become the Georgia native’s second number-one single, debuting atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It seems like Lil Nas X is ready to launch his next smash hit, announcing on Twitter Monday (May 3) plans to premiere “Montero’s” follow-up single during his upcoming Saturday Night Live appearance. 

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“Saturday Night Live MONTERO + NEW SONG 5/22,” penned the Grammy-winner on Twitter. He attached an accompanying graphic revealing the show’s co-host as The Queen’s Gambit actress Anya Taylor-Joy. He’s set to hit the stage for the coveted appearance as the final musical guest for the 46th season of the series, which is an overall pretty honorific scheduled performance. 

Right now, not much is known about the unreleased, unnamed single Lil Nas X is set to debut. The track is more than likely off his upcoming album tentatively titled Montero with a summer 2021 release planned.

Aside from debuting the track, it will be the first live performance of “Montero.” It will be intriguing to see how Lil Nas will present a live, PG-version of the suggestive visuals for the track, so let us know if you’ll be tuning in down in the comments. 

Music festivals around the world are still being postponed or canceled outright because of the coronavirus pandemic but organizers are hopeful that things can finally begin to return to a sense of normalcy this summer. Although we were met with the unfortunate news this morning that the Roskilde Festival would no longer take place this year in Denmark featuring performances from Kendrick Lamar and others, we learned that Governors Ball 2021 will presumably go down with a pretty exciting lineup in September.

Taking place at Citi Field in New York City, which is expected to be fully reopened within the next few weeks, Governors Ball 2021 has officially announced their return lineup after taking the year off last year for COVID. It will be headlined by Billie Eilish, A$AP Rocky, and Post Malone. A mix of hip-hop, pop, rock, and dance artists have also been confirmed for the festival, including DaBaby, 24kGoldn, J Balvin, Megan Thee Stallion, Cordae, Aminé, Young Thug, Ellie Goulding, Burna Boy, 21 Savage, Smino, 100 gecs, and more. 

The upcoming three-day festival will celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Governors Ball. Tickets will go on sale on Thursday, May 6 at 12 PM ET here. If you’re a Citi card member, the presale is already open. 

Check out the full lineup below and let us know if you’ll be in New York for this!

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Benny The Butcher has only recently delivered his latest album The Plugs I Met 2, a project that continued his tradition of critical acclaim. In fact, there’s a case to be made that the Black Soprano Family lyricist is among the most esteemed rappers in the game right now, having set such a lofty standard for quality. Today, it was confirmed that The Butcher has locked into the studio with a fellow kindred spirit, an artist in the midst of his own triumphant creative hot streak — Grammy-nominated Alfredo aficionado Freddie Gibbs.

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Taking to Twitter, Benny confirmed that he and Gangsta Gibbs are currently in the midst of a studio session, joined by none other than Burden Of Proof producer Hit-Boy. Though it’s unclear as to what the trifecta is cooking up, it’s certainly possible that some of the material will end up on Freddie Gibb’s upcoming SSS album, a star-studded affair with confirmed features from Pharrell Williams, Metro Boomin, The Alchemist, Hit-Boy, Mike WiLL Made-It, and more.

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It’s equally possible that some of this material will wind up on whatever Benny has cooking up. Though he only recently dropped off a new album, the Griselda trifecta are easily some of hip-hop’s most prolific, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see The Butcher looking to drop off some new material ahead of his upcoming Burden Of Plugs tour this fall. Keep an eye out for further details on the upcoming collaboration between Freddie Gibbs, Benny The Butcher, and Hit-Boy, and sound off if you’re eager to see what the trio have been cooking up. 

In the later stages of his career, music mogul JAY-Z has been mostly a private person. Every once in a while, a new picture of his family or a fresh interview will appear from out of nowhere online. During his latest interview with The Times UK, the 51-year-old legend spoke about his experience during the pandemic, his family, and more. As his fans gravitate toward that in-depth piece, others are being caught by misleading headlines suggesting that another interview, in which he discussed how he “regretted” writing his “Big Pimpin” lyrics, was also published recently. His statements about the song have gone viral on social media with thousands of people discussing the claims, wondering whether he’ll ever perform the song again. However, that interview was actually done over eleven years ago and isn’t current at all.

Considering the fact that JAY-Z almost never does press, it isn’t so surprising that some of his words are being misconstrued from decade-old interviews. People are clearly hungry for more JAY-Z content after his standout appearance on DJ Khaled’s new album. Don’t be fooled by his comments on “Big Pimpin” though.

Several media outlets, including The Source, fell for the viral post, reporting it as though the statements were new. At the time, Hov spoke with the Wall Street Journal about how profound most of his lyrics are before explaining that he regretted writing some of the bars in “Big Pimpin.” “That’s the exception. It was like… I can’t believe I said that,” he said in 2010. “And kept saying it? What type of animal would say this sort of thing. Reading it is really harsh.”

The smash-hit remains one of the biggest rap songs of all time. Since the interview was published, JAY-Z has performed the song more times than we can remember, so despite his regret, he’s seemingly still onboard with rapping it live for his fans worldwide.

Check out what people are saying about the old interview below.

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