Wu-Tang Clan and Nike have piqued the interest of sneakerheads with a simple social media post that seems to indicate the forthcoming return of a fan-favorite.
On Sunday (June 30), both the athletic company shared a joint post with the seminal Rap group’s official Instagram page that simply sees a swarm of bees gathered around a high-top shoe. While the Nike check is partially covered by the insects, the Wu’s signature black and yellow are clearly visible.
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According to Footwear News, the post teases the upcoming return of the “Wu-Tang” Nike High Dunks, which originally hit store shelves in 1999. The rare kicks were a redesign of a University of Iowa-colored version of the shoes, to which the Wu’s logo was added to the tongue and heel.
The original release only saw a total of 100 pairs of the shoe available to the public. However, the collaboration has become such a legendary moment that fans even created the narrative that only 36 “Wu-Tang” Nike High Dunks were ever made, as an ode to classic debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).
In other news, fans Down Under may soon have the opportunity to finally hear Wu-Tang’s infamous single-copy album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.
Often branded as the “world’s rarest album,” a single copy of the album 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.
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.”
