Sammy Sosa made quite a commotion recently when he showed up looking much lighter at an event in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino.

“He’s not trying to be Michael Jackson,” said former Cubs employee Rebecca Polihronis. “He is going through a rejuvenation process for his skin.

“Women have it all of the time. He was surprised he came out looking so white.”

No word yet on if the skin rejuvenation also is responsible for the green contacts and straightened hair.

After a lengthy introduction that includes personal Michael Jackson footage where the fallen pop legend is dancing to “Ignition” in the back seat of a car, R. Kelly debuts a song he did in MJs honor. During his address, which is apparently aimed at a sellout crowd that came to see him perform, Kellz insists that he will not let Michael die.

This is dope!

See, this is what happens when you go surfing in the middle of the day… I should have been minding my own brand, drumming up some exclusive for tomorrow (I got u Tre!) or preparing for the days ahead. But no! I started clickin’… and this is what I found!

Seems like EBONY wanted to see the future and how can you blame them? They digitally enhanced this image in 1985 to ponder what Mike would look like in 2000. Safe to say they were dead wrong, but interesting to ponder how accurate they may have been had MJ never subscribed to plastic surgery.

I had a conversation with my fiance only a week ago wondering had he held on to his born features, would he have become the same icon? Would he have transcended generations the same way and become the international icon we all came to know and love?

The truth is, we’ll never know. What’s certain though, is he would not have pieced together that outfit! He had too much money to wear some cornball shit like that!!

I guess it was meant to be though, seeing as how I’d been unable, for the life of me, to forget how Mike used to look. It’s no secret that he was the butt of many jokes and in the process of fading into his legend, we forgot how great he really was. As incredible as “Thriller” and “Billie Jean” and “Beat It” and “Man In The Mirror” were, we forgot. That’s the reason why our nation and world is so torn today. It’s why he sold over 9 million albums since his death and is on the fast track to becoming this year’s highest selling artist.

That’s right, in a day where iTune downloads, mp3s and bootleg panhandlers rule the world, there are still people that want vintage music. And if we’re talking throwback music, it doesn’t get any better than ‘Old Skool Mike.’

It’s funny to say “old skool” and mean it when referring to Michael Jackson or the era(s) he dominated. I mean, it seems just like yesterday I was on my mother’s couch waiting with my neighbors to watch the video that changed the industry forever. But that day is some (breathes deep) 27 years ago? Wow!

I guess it’s only fitting that the day I go Internet surfing, MTV reports the King of Pop’s Thriller is about to pass the Eagles for the highest selling album of all time. As of March, Thriller was at 28 million in the US and the Eagles Greatest Hits Album had sold a cool 29 million.

Rest assured that number will undoubtedly change in the next month or so with people demanding physical copies of MJs most prized work.