I miss sports a lot, and if you are reading our sports website, odds are high you miss sports, too. I miss buzzer-beaters in basketball games, world-class goals in soccer games, and considering the point of the normal sports calendar we are in, I really miss baseball teams hitting moonshot home runs that constantly leave me in awe of how a human being can mash a baseball hundreds of feet into the air and have it land in the outstretched palm of some random guy who just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Unfortunately, we do not have that in the United States right now as part of a preventative measure to try and slow the spread of COVID-19. What we do have, however, are some sports leagues in other corners of the world, and fortunately for us, they are playing real, live games. An example of this came via the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan, where Chu Yu-Hsien of the Rakuten Monkeys hit a walk-off dinger against the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions.

Getting the obvious out of the way here, it is very strange to see this sort of thing happen in a venue that does not have fans, something that Dr. Anthony Fauci said we will need to see in the United States if we are going to get sports any time soon. The mannequins in the stands and the piped-in noise are a nice touch, even if they are going to take some time to get used to — also it’s very funny that despite having no actual fans the TV broadcast still cuts to the mannequin crowd reaction as the guy rounds the bases.

Having said that, holy crap! It’s a live baseball game ending with someone hitting a baseball to the moon to win! This is like standing under a waterfall after spending a month in the desert, man. And what a homer this was! The pitcher missed his spot completely and left a meatball over the middle of the plate, and the batter made him pay, turning on the pitch and dropping it right into the seats that are usually occupied by fans who decide at the last minute they wanted to go check out a ballgame.

It stinks, but we’re not getting live sports on our shores for a while. It’ll be tough for fans, sure, but fortunately, we have other ways to consume baseball, and basketball, and football, and everything else that we miss. At the very least, I have never been so invested in a walk-off that did not involve my team.

As a resident of Washington state, where voters have been able to vote by mail for all elections for nearly a decade, I’ve been watching recent debates over voting systems with fascination.

People tend to forget that Washington is even up here in the corner of the country, so it’s a little weird to suddenly be getting so much attention for the way we vote. But what’s funny is that our system is getting attention only on a surface level. Like, people are paying attention to the idea of mail-in voting—with some totally freaking out over it—but most are not actually paying attention to any of the details of our voting system or election results.

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Since the President started harping on mail-in voting being “RIPE for FRAUD,” here’s the gist of conversations I’ve been seeing:

“Mail-in voting is a good option for upcoming elections since we don’t know if it will be safe to send people to the polls.”

“What?! No! There’s too much opportunity for widespread fraud with mail-in ballots!”

“But what about the states who have done all mail-in voting for years without widespread fraud?”

“Those are all ‘blue’ states! Clearly mail-in voting is a big Democrat conspiracy to win elections!”

The total jump over logic aside, there’s some simple proof up here in the Northwest that the Democrats-cheat-by-mail argument bears no weight. Let’s look at Washington and our neighbor to the south, Oregon—two states with all mail-in voting. Most would consider these states pretty solidly “blue,” right? (They’re not solid blue, but that’s another discussion. Just stick with me here.)

On a state level, elections are run by the Secretary of State. These elected officials control and oversee the running of elections—local, state, and national. They are responsible for maintaining the integrity of the election, the privacy and validity of ballots, and voter registration. They are in charge of election security, and by extension, voter fraud.

So who is Washington’s Secretary of State? Her name is Kim Wyman. She was elected by the people of Washington state in 2012 and 2016.

Who cares, you ask? Well, Kim Wyman is a Republican.

Oregon’s Secretary of State is named Bev Clarno. She’s been serving since March 31, 2019—and she’s also a Republican. She was appointed to the position after her predecessor, Dennis Richardson, passed away while in office. He had been elected by the people of Oregon in 2016.

And yep. He was also a Republican. How about that.

Riddle me this: If mail-in voting is some big conspiracy by Democrats to steal elections, how is it that both of these predominantly blue states elected Republicans to oversee their elections? I mean, if there’s really fraud here that’s actually impacting election results, wouldn’t those sneaky, conniving Democrats at least make sure to elect a Democrat to the position charged with election integrity and validity?

Oh oh oh and—if there was really was widespread voter fraud among Democrats in these states, don’t you think the Republicans who are in charge of the elections would be sounding the alarm?

Yes, of course they would. But they’re not. Because it’s not happening.

Kim Wyman—again, Washington’s Republican Secretary of State who oversees elections—has said that the idea that widespread voter fraud is rampant in the U.S. is “ludicrous on its face.” And Washington, with it’s decade-long experience with mail-in voting, ranks #2 in Harvard University’s Electoral Integrity Project—an ongoing study that surveys hundreds of election experts how each state fares in its electoral processes.

Does this mean that voter fraud doesn’t exist at all? Of course not. But it does mean that there’s nothing inherently favorable to Democrats in a mail-in system. Washington and Oregon have spent many years improving the process and the security of the process of voting this way, implementing hundreds of safeguards at various levels to make sure voting happens as it should.

No system or safeguard is 100% foolproof. Voter ID laws can be gamed with fake IDs. Signatures can be forged if someone practices hard. Electronic voting machines can be hacked. Election officials can be bribed. Pollsters can “lose” ballots.

Any number of things can happen in an election, and they very occasionally do. There is evidence of voter fraud, but it’s by no means rampant or widespread. Even if you look at the conservative Heritage Foundation’s voter fraud website, you’ll find around 1200 incidents of voter fraud. But that’s for the entire country, and over a 20-year period, which includes billions of voting instances. They state that it’s not an exhaustive list, but if they’re trying to make the point that voter fraud is a concern, they’d surely list just about every instance they can find. Even if it’s twice or three times what they list, that’s still a teensy-tiny, bunch-of-zeroes-after-the-decimal-point, fraction of of a percent of total votes—by no definition “rampant.”

Not to mention, voter fraud and election tampering are actual crimes, punishable by law, and I personally don’t believe that there’s a huge, widespread swath of Americans chomping at the bit to criminally cheat in an election. This deep distrust of our fellow Americans due to partisanship is gross and needs to stop.

Bottom line: The fact that voters in both of these predominantly blue states elected—by mail—Republican officials to be in charge of their elections seems like more than adequate proof that well-orchestrated mail-in ballot systems can work beautifully and fairly, regardless of party loyalties.

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Video games are, for many, the cure to boredom as they stay put and wait for the worst of our current reality to pass by. The gaming industry is a life raft for a number of people, including gamblers who need something to lose money on.

They’re also a World Health Organization-sanctioned good way to pass the time during the COVID-19 pandemic as people hunker down, make bells on the virtual Animal Crossing market, and just generally try to endure one of the weirdest moments in recent existence.

If you’re still looking for a more of-the-moment game, however, it’s hard to do better than a title inspired by coronavirus and the subsequent social distancing that’s followed. Enter COVID-19: Coronavirus Quarantine, a game from first-time game maker Derrick Rossignol (who happens to be a music editor at Uproxx), with illustrations from Kjetil Rossignol. The duo wanted to make the most of the pandemic by creating a game that works on Game Boy ROMs.

The game’s look is certainly Pokemon-inspired, referencing the series and the current environment we exist in, where toilet paper is inexplicably scarce and our fridges might be starting to look a little bare. The title is quick, and though it may remind you of Stardew Valley, there isn’t much of a grind to it, which is exactly the point.

“I think somebody who isn’t patient enough for the relaxed pace of a Stardew Valley-type game but still wants a life sim could get into this. It’s not even necessarily a game to “get into,” though: In less than five minutes, you can see everything there is to see,” Rossignol said. “It’s a dumb game, and that’s the point. Mainly, the goal for making this was to get a quick laugh, raise some money for a good cause, and get a simple message across: It’s important we do our part and stay inside as much as we can, even if it’s really boring sometimes.”

Even better, the game costs a dollar and proceeds will go to charity. It also comes with a fun illustrated instruction booklet with simple instructions like, well, stay home. Which is good advice! And a good cause, to boot.

DJ Jazzy Jeff recently revealed that he’d joined the ranks of hip-hop artists who contracted the coronavirus and in a pair of new interviews, detailed his experience having COVID-19, including symptoms, effects, and his feeling of being “terrified to death.”

During a call-in with his former rhyme partner Will Smith’s Snapchat series, Will From Home, he told Smith that he thinks “we’re really at the beginning” of the crisis. He reeled off a long list of afflictions, including, “a temperature that reached 103. I had the chills. I lost sense of smell. I lost sense of taste.”

On another chat with Tamron Hall, he said, “I didn’t even realize the severity of it.” He explained how the symptoms first started to come over him, saying, “When my wife and I were at the store, I looked at her and told her I didn’t feel well. And she was asking what was wrong, and I said ‘I feel a little achy, like I’m coming down with something.’” After that, he says, “I literally went home and got into bed and almost don’t remember the next 11 days after that.”

During that call, he also explained that a doctor wouldn’t test him for the virus, but instead “gave me a flu test and then gave me an x-ray on my lungs and said I had pneumonia in both of my lungs.” That diagnosis, he says, “terrified me to death.”

Jeff hypothesized that he’d likely contracted the virus at the annual Black Summit of the National Brotherhood of Skiers in Ketchum, Idaho in March, where over 100 attendees reportedly went home ill with COVID-19.

As New York drill was becoming a fixture on playlists and radio stations, one of the genre’s brightest stars prematurely passed away. Pop Smoke was just beginning his journey toward being a star when he was shot to death during a home invasion. Although the impact of his loss is still being felt, there are also those picking up the torch to carry on his legacy as frontrunner of the drill scene’s takeover, including fellow Brooklynite Fivio Foreign, who’s becoming a star in his own right.

During a recent check-in with Hot97 Fivio Foreign spoke about Pop Smoke’s legacy and his own place within it, revealing that the two were working together as recently as the day before Pop Smoke’s death. “The day before he passed, we did a song together,” he said. “It’s gonna be on my tape. It’s fire.” He also called his late friend a legend in the making, saying, “He made it to legend status. He’s a legend in my eyes. He did a lot in a short period of time.” The tape containing what may well be the final recording of Pop Smoke’s life is releasing later this month.

Among those helping to keep Pop Smoke’s memory are Travis Scott, who shared a snippet of an unreleased collaboration shortly after Smoke’s death, Lil Tjay, who paid homage with “Forever Pop,” Joey Badass, who wrote his own song about Pop, and 50 Cent, who promised to finish Pop’s debut album and promised it would release very soon.

Watch Fivio Foreign’s full interview with Hot97 above.

Summertime in 2019 was captivated by a wave of Spanish-infused West Coast hip-hop thanks to Watts, California’s own Ambjaay and his platinum-selling hit “Uno.” The catchy song caught the attention of celebrities worldwide and landed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart as well as the publication’s 100 Best Songs of 2019.

With production by Almighty Quise, “Uno” kickstarted a plethora of Latino-influenced slaps such as YG’s “Go Loko” last year and Tyga’s “Ayy Macarena” remake, and though the 20-year-old is proud of his influence and accomplishments, he’s ready to show the world what he’s got with his latest release, It Cost To Live Like This 2.

The project’s only guest feature is Wiz Khalifa on “Blow The Pickle,” who Jaay says was extremely supportive of him from the very beginning as the song began to gain steam on the fun video-sharing app TikTok. As someone who blew up relatively quickly straight out of high school, the buzzing star is simply grateful things happened the way they did.

Uproxx got the opportunity to catch up with Jaay about It Cost To Live Like This 2, his thoughts on TikTok fame, and why everyone should expect more from him than just songs like “Uno.”

On It Cost To Live Like This 2, you have a song called “Blow The Pickle” on there with Wiz Khalifa and I know Wiz was one of the first people that supported you when “Uno” came out. How did that collab come about?

So basically, Wiz already wanted to get on “Uno.” My A&R sent it to him, and he sent it right back. He been messing with me for a long time. It’s not too many rappers that be messing with up-and-coming rappers like that or supporting them. He’s a real humble dude. I was just blessed for him to mess with me while I’m up-and-coming.

How did you guys first get in touch? Was it over Instagram?

He hit me on Instagram, and then he was like, “Aye, let me get your number.” I gave him my number, he FaceTimed me, and was like, “Can I get the ‘Uno’ beat, so I could freestyle it?” And then every show, some fans will just send me a video of him freestyling to the “Uno” beat. It’s crazy.

That’s dope! When did you first realize that “Uno” was a hit? You probably knew it was going to be big, but when did you realize, “Dang, this really hit.”

What people don’t know is, “Uno” been blew up where I was from. But probably, like the middle of the summer when it blew up big. I’m talking about like movie stars, actors, rappers noticing is when it started going crazy. When people first started gravitating to it, I just wanted to work harder. I was like, man, I got one, I got to get more in. That’s how I feel, you can’t just get stuck on one. I was trying to make more. I just feel like it was a catchy, fun song. When I first made it, I kind of spoke it to existence. I was like, “This the one.” The producer, he didn’t even have no faith in me. I’m like, “Bro, this the one.” Because you wouldn’t expect people to do this, wouldn’t expect people to come like this on a record like this.

Do you ever worry about sounding too West Coast, to the point where maybe it won’t resonate with other people?

I’ve got different songs that’s not West Coast, like trap, but I’m different from other West Coast rappers. It kind of be hard to branch off, to be honest — everything sound the same now. Like you might hear drum patterns in a beat, and it still be West Coast. Everybody’s got their own style, though.

Yep. Very true. Now, “Uno” blew up on TikTok. What are your thoughts on TikTok? Did you know what that app was before it blew up on there?

I love that app, man. I feel like without Instagram and apps like that, it would be hard. You know how back in the days they used to like pass off they CDs out they trunks. I swear if we didn’t have internet or these little apps, it’d be hard to blow. It’d be hard to do music. So that really helped me a lot, because people get to show how creative they is and do little videos. Actually, since we’ve been on quarantine, I fell in love with TikTok. I been learning how to use the app.

Out of all places for you to blow up, did you think TikTok would be the app that did it?

Not really. Because I had went away from it for a little while. I wasn’t really on it. But, once the labels showed me, I was like, “Damn, this sh*t crazy.” That one song helps you build up your fanbase for sure, though.

I also saw something where you mentioned in LA Latinos and Black people don’t really get along, so this song can bring us together. I want to know more about your take on that and where you have seen a positive effect.

It ain’t no race song. It’s just bringing both cultures together. What I mean about that is, “Uno” has Latino instruments and I just combine both to bring us together. I swear, if you go to jail — I haven’t been to jail, but there’s this story: If you go to jail, it’s a race card. You got to roll with your color when you go to jail. This just me doing my research. Some Mexicans don’t get along with Black people, some Black people don’t get along with Mexicans. I was just doing that just to have fun. It’s both of our cultures in one.

Are you seeing positive effects from the song?

Yeah, it’d be like 80 percent positive. 20 [percent] that be like, “It’s a race card” because they don’t got nothing else to do. It’s a fun song. It ain’t like racist words. It’s just basic Spanish words in the song.

Yeah. I think YG and Tyga kind of had that same issue with “Go Loko” and “Ayy Macarena.”

And that’s another thing I be wanting to say. People don’t know this and I don’t even like doing this, but I was like one of the first ones to come with that sound in 2019. I made “Uno,” like, on January 3, just before I got signed. “Uno” got me signed. I been made it, we just bumped it up.

It already blew up where I was from and then everybody started doing songs like that. I feel like once you come with your own sound, and then everybody was hearing it, and [some Latino people] just felt like, okay, you wearing it out. “Y’all wearing our culture out.”

I was looking at your Twitter, and I saw you got your first plaque. Congrats! How does it feel?

It feel good! Where I come from, not too many people getting plaques and it just went platinum, too. Where I come from, it’s the projects. For me to even get signed, not too many people doing that. Most people my age give up their goals, don’t really chase their dreams, [and] don’t really want to be nothing. I had to change my life and do something positive with my life.

Growing up in Watts, what other options were you looking at, outside of rap?

If I wasn’t rapping, I’d want to transition into an actor. I wanted to be a basketball player. I was going to be one of those, though. I don’t want to just rap. I want to go into acting, do better things to open doors.

It feels like nowadays rappers can blow up so fast. Three years is a very short amount of time to blow.

Yeah, I feel I blew up at the right time. Before my time, my brother, he was a music producer, and my sister, she used to write poetry. It was always around me. It was just up to me to go through my own problems to figure out what I really wanted to do. When you fresh out of high school, you don’t really know what you want to do.

Especially people our age, most people my age don’t want to go to college. When you graduate high school, life hits you hard and you really don’t know what you fixing to do. I ain’t know what I was fixing to do. I tried to get a job, it wasn’t working for me and I was just rapping at the same time, while I’m trying to get a job. I just came with that one, and God was just on my side. Got lucky. I feel like, if you put your mind to it, everything’s going to work out. If you really try to go hard, everything going to work out.

It Cost To Live Like This 2 is out now on Columbia Records. Get it here.

Elusive UK producer Jamie xx has been relatively quiet since the release of his 2015 sophomore record In Colour. The effort scored Jamie a Grammy nomination, and while the musician hasn’t released any solo music since, it looks as though Jamie is gearing up for the beginning of a new era: The producer has shared the revved-up track “Idontknow,” his first solo music in five years.

“Idontknow” has been a staple at Jamie xx’s live shows for the last year. The producer had kept quiet about the song, leaving fans to speculate the dance-ready track’s origin. But Wednesday, Jamie finally debuted the track on streaming services. The wobbly track is available on all streaming services but the producer is planning on pressing the song into a 12-inch vinyl slated for a later release.

The single arrives on the heels of Jamie’s collaborative song and first track of 2020. Just last week, the producer teamed up with Headie One and Fred Again for the thumping number “Smoke.” While the producer hasn’t released any solo material in years, he’s stayed prolific. Ahead “Smoke,” Jamie scored Romain Gavras’ 2018 film The World Is Yours. A year prior, the producer debuted a remix The xx’s I See You track “Hold On.”

Listen to “Idontknow” above.

Rick and Morty returns to Adult Swim on May 3. Five days later, Justin Roiland’s new animated series debuts on Hulu. Almost makes the two-year wait worth it. Almost.

Created by Roiland and former-Rick and Morty head writer Mike McMahan, Solar Opposites is about a family of aliens living on “this human-infested crap-hole of a planet called Earth.” That’s Hulu’s phrasing, not mine, although… Anyway, Solar Opposites looks like, well, the opposite of Roiland’s other series — instead of humans traveling to alien worlds, it’s aliens living in a human world, where flesh-and-blood classmates are shrunk down and dissected and the wheelchair-bound are given AT-AT-looking legs.

Here’s more:

Co-created by Justin Roiland and Mike McMahan, Solar Opposites centers around a team of four aliens who have escaped their exploding home world, only to crash land into a move-in ready home in suburban America. They are evenly split on whether Earth is awful or awesome. Korvo (Justin Roiland) and Yumyulack (Sean Giambroni) only see the pollution, crass consumerism, and human frailty, while Terry (Thomas Middleditch) and Jesse (Mary Mack) love humans and all their TV, junk food, and fun stuff. Their mission: protect the Pupa, a living super computer that will one day evolve into its true form, consume them and terraform the Earth.

Solar Opposites premieres on Hulu on May 8.

When What We Do In The Shadows returns for a second season on April 15, fans might discover some changes amongst the show’s bumbling vampiric trio. The mockumentary comedy series, based off Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s cult hit, has gotten more comfortable in its gothic, Staten Island digs. There’s still plenty of ridiculous hijinks – think virgin vampire hunters, seances, Haley Joel Osment – but there’s also real character growth, emerging threats, and some interesting plot twists.

And Natasia Demetriou is right in the thick of it. The actress, who plays the seductive, superstitious Nadja, returns with a perfected deadpan and some outrageously funny one-liners as she tries to manage the chaos caused by her immortal flatmates and move her relationship forward with husband Laszlo (Matt Berry), despite his more-than-disappointing porn career. Demetriou was nice enough to chat with us about the show’s return, her character’s real-life roots, and being just as dumb as the men.

Most shows spend their first season getting into a rhythm. Have you guys found that groove in season two?

The biggest change I noticed from season one to season two was like, “Oh, I know this character.” You remember how she’d react, and you can push it further because you know the limits.

I imagine wearing those prosthetic teeth all day every day helps get into the right mindset.

Yeah, and the fact that they make us drink blood every morning. That’s kind of crazy. It really gets you into the character.

Jemaine [Clement] and Taika [Waititi] pulled inspiration for the show from their film, but Nadja is a totally original character. Did that make it easier or more difficult to enter this world, knowing she’d be the first female vamp we’d seen?

I felt so lucky to play a female character in a comedy where she’s as stupid and narcissistic as the men, because quite often, the female parts I’ve auditioned gone up for, they’re written kind of strong. They’re there with the guys, and they’re sort of pointing out where the guys are fools or where the guys have made a mistake. It means that, yes, you’re a female character in a comedy, but you’re not getting to do any of the goofy, sort of dumb, fun stuff. With Nadja, it’s amazing because I’m more stupid than the men in the house. And that is like a dream.

Jemaine had a rough idea of what they wanted for the character before I got the part. His wife is Greek, and his mother-in-law is Greek, and I know that they wanted some of that sort of Mediterranean drama as part of the character. We talk a lot about that, about my aunties and my dad, but the writing’s all there.

What’s the big storyline for season two and how does your character play into it?

There is one sort of overarching storyline, but I can’t give too much of that away, and also my character’s too stupid to realize what’s going on. But there are lots of fun things. We may or may not meet our ghosts. We may or may not meet some witches. Me and Laszlo may or may not reveal that we’ve written a lot of the most famous songs of all time, and they’ve just been plagiarized off us over the years.

The show feels different from other comedies on TV right now. How much of that comes from the mostly British cast and the creators? Is there a certain style that you’ve brought with you?

I feel like, at its heart, the true uniqueness of the show comes from Jemaine and Taika. They have such a distinctive voice – and they cast this. Jemaine always says when it came to auditions, all the European people that they cast just do better vampiric accents. He saw Laszlo as coming from England so, of course, there’s no one more British than Matt Berry. And Kayvan has this amazing Iranian family… I think it feeds into the whole fish-out-of-water thing. They are trying to live in this world, but it’s not for them anymore. I think it was very wise of them to cast the way they cast, and not just because I got to be in it.

How much are you able to improvise, especially during scenes like the talking heads segments?

Jemaine and all the directors really encourage us to improvise. I think because we have these characters and this world and these bricks that are so solid, as a performer, you feel really comfortable improvising. You know what the story is. You know what information you have to get across. And then you can kind of improv around that. I’ve thrown a lot of stuff that my dad has actually said, or there’s a couple of things about Nadja’s background story that is literally taken from my dad’s childhood.

Such as?

Well, my dad is from Cyprus, which is a tiny island. There were loads of snakes on the island and he had a serious fear of snakes. So, I let that bleed into her origin story. What other stuff? The way she sings. That’s based on my aunt. Luckily, I don’t think the show goes on in Cyprus, so no one’s going to be getting offended. It’s all done with love, though. I am so proud of my Cypriot heritage. It’s my favorite thing about myself. I’m very, very, very honored to be able to work in a show that embraces the dramatic, crazy wonderfulness of it all.

You got started in sketch comedy. What’s the current sketch comedy scene in Britain and how does it compare to what you’ve seen happening here?

You guys are crushing it. America, when it comes to comedy, is like absolutely smashing it, especially with sketch and character stuff. I feel Britain has had the age of stand-up that’s what Britain’s been focused on for a while. I mean, comedy is the way that British people sort of relax because everyone’s so uptight and apologetic. I got into doing live sketch comedy and stuff because I wanted to be like French and Saunders. My writing partner and I do a sketch comedy show. We are currently writing a show for the BBC. My dream has always been to have my own sketch show, but I guess sketch shows are very expensive to make. There’s a lot of wigs involved, especially in the stuff I write.

That’s so great, because we desperately need more female-led sketch comedy series.

It’s getting better. We’re actually able to notice it and talk about it and go, “Hang on. There hasn’t been much of that,” which is amazing.

‘What We Do in the Shadows’ returns on Wednesday, April 15 at 10:00pm on FX.