Do you guys remember when news surfaced that Wu-Tang’s RZA and Cilvaringz planned to sell just one copy of their next album? They threw out all of the duplicates, leaving the duo with one copy which they called Once Upon A Time In Shaolin. It was placed inside of a hand-carved box made of nickel and silver along with a 174-page book of lyrics, anecdotes and credits and they threw in a $55,000 pair of speakers and a “gold-leafed certificate of authenticity, according to NPR. Wu-Tang vowed that they’d sell it for at least $1 million, but how many average people have $1 million to spend on an album?
Every hip hop head has been dying to know what is on the 31-track album, but will there be a day when we all hear it? Probably not. It was just revealed that pharmaceutical tycoon Martin Shkreli was the secret purchaser of the album and he claims he spent a whopping $2 million! Shkreli is the hedge fund manager and pharmaceutical exec who caused a stir earlier this year after he hiked up the price for a cancer/AIDS medication from $13.50 to $750 per pill. Despite being insanely rich and seemingly out of touch, he says he’s always been a Wu-Tang fan growing up in Brooklyn!
However, with great power comes great responsibility. Shkreli must adhere to the one rule enclosed in the box: The buyer cannot release the album, commercially, for at least 88 years! He’ll pretty much die before that happens, so I guess it’ll become a family heirloom. Apparently, fans tried to crowd-fund Once Upon A Time In Shaolin, but the rich got to it first. Darn!
Roommates, do you think he’ll leak the album for us?
TSR Intern: Talia O. @theclosetratchet on Instagram & @tallyohhh on Twitter!
Source Cited: http://www.tmz.com/2015/12/09/wu-tang-clan-album-martin-shkreli/
