Wu-Tang Clan’s Nearly-Mythical “Once Upon A Time In Shaolin” Album Saga Continues

February 26, 2024

LA The Darkman spoke to AllHipHop about the one-of-a-kind Wu project as he was promoting the reissue of his debut album, 1998’s “Heist of the Century.”

The saga of Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon a Time in Shaolin has endured many different chapters. The nearly-mythical album was secretly recorded between 2007 and 2013—but only one physical copy exists.

A single two-CD copy was pressed in 2014 and stored in a secured vault at the Royal Mansour Hotel in Marrakech, Morocco, then auctioned through Paddle8 auction house the following. year. A legal agreement with the purchaser stipulated that the album couldn’t be commercially exploited for 88 years (2103), although it can be played at listening parties.

Former Turning Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli—or “Pharma Bro” as he was often referred to in the media—was the winning bidder at $2 million. RZA explained the sale was complete before Shkreli’s controversial price hike of the anti-infective agent Daraprim. After learning Shkreli was behind the purchase, RZA said Cilvaringz and the Wu-Tang Clan donated a “significant portion” of the proceeds to charity, including the Children’s Literacy Society, the Hip-Hop Chess Federation and TTAC, an institution focused on showcasing alternative cures for cancer.

In January 2016, Shkreli promised he’d release the album for free if Donald Trump won the 2016 U.S. presidential election—which he did. After Trump was elected, Shkreli streamed excerpts of the album online. Shkreli then attempted to sell Once Upon a Time in Shaolin on eBay in September 2017, with the winning bid passing $1 million. But Shkreli was incarcerated on unrelated fraud counts before the sale could be finalized. RZA attempted to buy the album back, but he was contractually unable to at the time.

“I’ve actually tried to get it back but the paperwork and the contract stops me from getting it back,” he explained to Rolling Stone. “When [Shkreli] put it on eBay, the first thing I did was call my lawyer, and I was like, ‘Yo, let’s go.’ And they said, ‘All right, check with your contract.’ And it’s no, you can’t do it. Ain’t that a b####?”

Following Shkreli’s securities fraud conviction, a federal court seized Once Upon a Time in Shaolin along with his other assets. In July 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice sold it to non-fungible token collectors PleasrDAO for $4 million to cover his debts.

— ✨ PleasrDAO (@PleasrDAO) October 20, 2021

But according to Wu-Tang Clan affiliate LA The Darkman, who appears on Once Upon a Time Shaolin not once but three times, the story continues. Speaking to AllHipHop to promote the reissue of his debut album, 1998’s Heist of the Century, LA The Darkman talked about the one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang album, his forthcoming Heist of the Century sequel and how it feels to be flying the Wu-Tang flag again.

 

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