Wu-Tang Clan‘s seventh studio album is arguably Hip Hop’s most fascinating artifact, and it is finally set to see the light of day after recently coming under new ownership.
Often branded as the “world’s rarest album,” a single copy of Once Upon A Time In Shaolin was pressed back in 2015 and its digital masters permanently deleted to emphasize the implications of streaming and piracy in an age of weightless music. A bidding war for the LP ensued soon after, with notorious “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli purchasing it for $2 million.
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Two years later, he was ordered to hand over the record by a federal court after being convicted of securities fraud. In 2021, PleasrDAO bought the elaborate silver-box package from the United States Department of Justice for $4 million in an effort to cover the businessman’s debt.
Following through on their promise to make the music at hand more accessible to the world, the non-fungible token collectors have now loaned it to the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Hobart, Tasmania for an exhibition titled Namedropping.
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The tracklist, which reportedly features every surviving member of the Wu-Tang Clan as well as Cher, will be played at the venue for free from June 15–24. Those who secure tickets will have access to a 30-minute edit of the album that will be played on a custom-made Playstation by the rap veterans inside the Frying Pan recording studio.
“Every once in a while, an object on this planet possesses mystical properties that transcend its material circumstances,” MONA’s director of curatorial affairs Jarrod Rawlins said about the upcoming event. “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin is more than just an album, so when I was thinking about status, and what a transcendent namedrop could be, I knew I had to get it into this exhibition.”
PleasrDAO added: “Ten years ago, the Wu-Tang Clan had a bold vision to make a single copy album as a work of fine art. To ‘put it in an art gallery … make music become a living piece like a Mona Lisa or a sceptre from Egypt.’ With this single work of art, the Wu-Tang Clan’s intention was to redefine the meaning of music ownership and value in a world of digital streaming and commodification of music.”
Described as “a 400-year-old Renaissance-style approach to music” by RZA, the two-CD set is not allowed to be used for any commercial purposes until 2103 per a legal agreement drafted at the time of its original sale.
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Aside from a few leaks by Shkreli and a 13-minute medley played for potential buyers at New York City’s Museum Of Modern Art before the 2015 purchase, Once Upon A Time In Shaolin has never been open to the public before.
Its residency at the MONA this summer will mark the first time the album has ever been handed over to a museum for the public’s consumption.
