Once Upon a Time in Shaolin is a double album by the New York hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan that was limited to a single copy sold in 2015. It is the most expensive single album ever sold. One double-CD of the album, which was recorded in secret over six years, was pressed in 2014 and stored in a secured vault at the Royal Mansour Hotel in Marrakech, Morocco. The album was auctioned to the highest bidder through auction house Paddle8 in 2015. It was subsequently revealed that the winning bid of $2 million was placed by American businessman Martin Shkreli. A legal agreement with the purchaser states that the album cannot be commercially exploited until 2103, although it can be released for free or played during listening parties.
Shkreli shared the intro and part of two tracks after Donald Trump was elected president, after threatening to destroy the album. In 2017 Shkreli allegedly livestreamed a portion of the album to YouTube after a verdict was reached in a criminal case against him. On September 6, 2017, Shkreli placed the album up for auction via eBay; it received 343 bids and sold for $1,025,100 USD.
Video Once Upon a Time in Shaolin
Background
The concept to offer a musical work in a single form was conceived by Wu-Tang Clan producer Cilvaringz and was based on music exploitation as a commissioned commodity in the Baroque, Enlightenment and Renaissance ages. The idea was later developed further with Wu-Tang de facto leader RZA into a concept presentable to the public. The album reportedly features the singer and actress Cher as a guest on two of the album's tracks.
The album was auctioned to the highest bidder through auction house Paddle8 in 2015. A winning bid for the album was accepted by the Wu-Tang Clan on May 3, 2015, and was followed by months of legal diligence. Due to the unprecedented nature of the sale, new and unique legal structures were written for the sales agreement. The sale was completed on August 26, 2015, at a price "in the millions" to a "private American collector". On December 9, 2015, Bloomberg Businessweek identified the buyer as controversial Turing pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli. In a statement emailed to Bloomberg, RZA noted that the sale had been agreed upon before Shkreli's controversial price hike of Daraprim, an anti-infective agent most commonly used in immunocompromised patients with toxoplasmosis. In the statement, RZA added that the group had donated a "significant portion" of the proceeds to charity upon hearing who the buyer was. Among the charities Wu-Tang Clan donated to were the Children's Literacy Society, the Hip Hop Chess Federation and TTAC, an institution focused on showcasing alternative cures for cancer. The actual sale price was never revealed by the auction house or the Wu-Tang Clan, but Bloomberg reported and Shkreli later confirmed that he had purchased the album for $2 million.
Maps Once Upon a Time in Shaolin
Response
Many fans reacted negatively to the news of the single-copy album, believing that the album would not be available to the public until 2103. Wu-Tang member Method Man spoke out against the 88-year commercial ban, blaming fellow member RZA and producer Cilvaringz. RZA replied that the 88-year ban was necessary to maintain the integrity of the album as a work of art and deflect any notions of a grand marketing or publicity stunt. According to him, the number 8 bears symbolic significance because there were eight original members of the Wu-Tang Clan, the numbers of the year 2015 add up to eight, Paddle8 has eight in its name, and a rotated eight is the symbol for infinity that was used on their second album Wu-Tang Forever. Wu-Tang later released an official statement saying that, although the music cannot be sold to the public until 2103, the owner may exhibit or distribute the music for free.
The Guinness Book of Records certified the album as the most valuable album in existence, outpricing the previous most expensive records in the world held by Elvis Presley and The Quarrymen, later to be known as The Beatles. On March 3, 2015, the album was detained at JFK Airport for three hours while border control determined the contents of the silver box holding the album.
In February 2016, artist Jason Koza sued RZA, Cilvaringz, Paddle8 and Shkreli in the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for the alleged unauthorized use of his artwork on the album.
Track listing
The track listing remained a secret for the buyer. Paddle8 released a track list of working titles the group used during the recordings. The track listing has been compiled by Complex magazine.
See also
- Musique pour Supermarché, another single-copy album
References
External links
- Official site of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments