The news is true. After 10 long, strong years of deafening screaming, live performances, walk-ons, and music videos (VIDEOS!) and celebrities that went on to become pop culture phenomenons (and a few who didn't), the bright lights of TRL -- lights that once lit up the careers of Britney Spears (she appeared on the show 21 times), Mariah Carey (if you don't remember when she busted onto the show in 2001 and stripped, then refresh your memory with the video below), *NSYNC, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Lopez, Nelly, Diddy, Eminem, Backstreet Boys, Pink, and thousands of other genre-spanning artists who took the stage between 1998 and 2008 -- will go dark. Worst.

The show, originally hosted by Carson Daly, currently co-hosted by Damien Fahey and Lyndsey Rodrigues, will end in November 2008 after a final farewell show and lots of tears.

And not that anything could ever take the place of TRL, and true, maybe we should wait for the blood to dry, but here's some good news to complement the sad stuff -- due to popular demand, FNMTV will be returning to your otherwise crappy Friday nights starting this November. BRAND-new videos! Played in their entirety! The way God intended! And celebrities! Live performances! LOLs! Arguing! More screaming!

Pour some milk out for your favorite fallen show and raise a glass of Quik to the second coming of FNMTV. And below, see who was on the very first TRL countdown ever on September 14, 1998. Plus, check out thousands of TRL photos (including snaps from the iconic backstage photo booth) then close your eyes and let the sentimental sounds of Mariah Carey, Boyz II Men, and Diddy (Puffy, hold me down, baby!) help you pay your respects to a decade of MTV's Total Request Live.

TRL 09/14/98
1. Backstreet Boys - I'll Never Break Your Heart
2. NSYNC - Tearin' Up My Heart
3. Aaliyah featuring Timbaland - Are You That Somebody?
4. Aerosmith - I Don't Want to Miss A Thing
5. Will Smith - Just the Two of Us
6. Marilyn Manson - The Dope Show
7. Usher- My Way
8. The Goo Goo Dolls - Iris
9. Monica - The First Night
10. Monster Magnet - Space Lord

We were going to go celebrate our independence from England by taking the train down to Coney Island to watch the hot dog-eating contest, but we were too lazy, so we're watching it on TV and expressing our pride from the couch. That's the American way, right? Go Kobayashi!

+ Check out indie videos on MTV2, and more summer videos here.

Young gun Tyga's so confident you know his name that he went ahead and titled his debut LP No Introduction. But for the small handful of you who've only been listening to NPR or something and haven't read Buzzworthy or Friendsorenemies in a minute, here's what you need to know about the newcomer.

Tyga came up in Compton and was weaned on Busta Rhymes. He possesses an old-school spitfire style, a la early LL Cool J, with the pop appeal of Will Smith back when was still a young MC. After opening for Fall Out Boy and Gym Class Heroes -- and performing with the latter, Panic At the Disco and Lil Wayne in a guest spot at the 2007 VMAs -- an awed Weezy signed the rap rook to his Young Money Entertainment imprint. Barely a year later, No Introduction was born, and now Tyga's getting hands everywhere up in the air with his breakthrough party anthem, "Coconut Juice," in addition to flavor-enhanced fresh twists on time-tested themes like young love, money-makin' abilities, and the epic magnitude of one's own rap skills (and more millennial topics, like meeting chicks online).

These days, Tyga's life is a three-ring hip-pop circus of events ("What's today's date? I don't even know the date, we do so much s---" he confessed to the camera on a YouTube video he posted this past Friday) involving appearances, mixes, and remixes with Lil Wayne, Travis McCoy and Pete Wentz, all of whom appeared in his star-studded "Coconut Juice" video. And with the amount of collabos and side hustles he's dealing in, he's pretty much in the running to become the next Akon.

The next thing you need to know: he's got more chains than a bike shop. And finally: he's got more tats than Sturgis Bike Week.

Watch Tyga step into the boxing rink, and indulge in even more ink, all this week as Artist of the Week -- check out his videos here -- sample his "Coconut Juice" if you somehow haven't yet, watch Tyga interviews and live performances, and check out exclusive photos from his Artist of the Week shoot.

+ UPDATE: More Tyga videos here!

+ More Tyga photos after the jump:

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Ever heard the old Beatles song that goes "Oh, I get by with-a-little help from my friends?" Well, apparently so has The Game. In his latest single, "Game's Pain," the rapper (who was born Jayceon Terrell Taylor, but wisely refrained from adopting the already tainted moniker "JTT") shouts out all of his favorite old-school musical influences, including Jay-Z, Wu-Tang Clan, Naughty by Nature and Nas.

Turns out the West Coast rapper is also a longtime Will Smith fan! Because, in his words, "who didn't wanna be the Fresh Prince flat-top, gold chain and some fresh kicks?" (Answer: Nobody.)

And besides revealing that Game has a secret soft-spot for New Edition, this smooth-flowing track shows a gentler, humbler side of the gangsta rapper best known for his do-or-die rivalry with 50 Cent. You'll want to listen up for the killer vocals from Keyshia Cole and keep your eyes peeled for the cameo by Friday star (and former N.W.A. rapper) Ice Cube. That said, be prepared to squint at the excessive use of bling, the gratuitous use of a Louis Vuitton sweatband and the disconcertingly blinding shades of red.

'80s reunions are pretty much the new neon -- first there's the announcement of the re-emancipation of NKOTB. And now -- drop those bell-bottom Brady Bunch trousers and double-knit reversible slacks, because it's looking more likely that a long-awaited revival of DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince may (finally) be a reality.

A DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince reunion has been rumored for years -- decades, even. But with MC-turned-megastar the Fresh Prince's movie, Hancock, nearing its July 2008 release date, might DJ Jazzy Jeff be dusting off his 1s and 2s to join Will for a "summertime" revival?

No tour dates have been announced, but we'll have our Adidas and Jams at the ready, just in case.

Watch the pioneering, classic, and endearingly low-budge video, "Parents Just Don't Understand." (And peep the sweet Porsche "car phone!") The single won them the first-ever Best Rap Performance Grammy in 1989, but Will Smith and Jeff didn't attend the Grammys that year. See why in a vintage Yo! MTV Raps clip.

If you:

+ Only heard "Rapper's Delight" for the first time when that old lady in The Wedding Singer dropped a few lines in that ridick scene

+ First heard of Dr. Dre when Eminem mentioned him

+ Don't remember when the Beastie Boys were actually boys

+ Didn't realize that the Fresh Prince and Will Smith were the same person, or that he left DJ Jazzy Jeff behind when he moved to Bel Air

+ Didn't realize Rev Run was, um, in a rap group

+ Didn't realize Ice-T had a whole separate career before he played Fin Tutuola on Law & Order: SVU

+ Didn't realize Jennifer Lopez and Diddy were once a couple

+ Don't know who the Fly Girls were

+ Thought Queen Latifah made her showbiz debut in BarberShop 2

And/or

+ Don't know who Kid or Play is...

Then you probably need a serious dose of Yo! MTV Raps, the seminal national hip-hop show that was the. shiz. on MTV back in the late '80s and early '90s. The show took hip-hop out of the New York boroughs and pockets of urban Cali, where it'd been brewing, and into the homes of anyone with MTV, beginning in 1988, and it's been a legend ever since.

Now, 20 years later, we've dusted off the turntables -- and the set -- and invited back host Fab 5 Freddy and an impressive roster of the original voices, leaders and pioneers of the hip-hop movement and resurrected Yo! MTV Raps.

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