Sammy Sosa's long strange attempt to turn himself into Mark McGwire reached a new stage of bleaching this week when the former Cub was photographed looking like this.

TMZ caught up with T.I. and asked the always opinionated spitter what he thought about Sosa's transformation.

"It's self-hate," Tip said.

Sosa has denied that self-hate is behind his bleaching.  In 2009, when he was first spotted with noticeably lighter skin, he said this to Univision:

"It’s a cream that I have, that I use to soften [my skin], but has bleached me some. I’m not a racist, I live my life happily," he said.

“What happened was that I had been using the cream for a long time and that, combined with the bright TV lights, made my face look whiter than it really is. I don’t think I look like Michael Jackson."