One of the most infamous albums in hip-hop history is Once Upon A Time In Shaolin. Back in 2014, RZA, Method Man, and the rest of the Wu-Tang Clan were fed up with how streaming made music feel like it doesn’t have any value. Consequently, they made the album to be consumed like high art and only made one copy of the album. Then, they deleted every master recording so that there would be no possible way for the album to ever be leaked.
By 2015, only 150 people got to come together and listen to a fraction of the album. Then, Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli bought it for $2 million and thought about destroying it just to really make sure no one heard it. By 2021, PleasrDAO had acquired it and revealed that it could only be heard at listening parties and art exhibits.
Decades later, Method Man finally got to hear the work they spent so much time working on. Now, we get a pretty solid review for it. During an episode of the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast, they brought the New York legend for an informal listening party with Once Upon A Time In Shaolin. According to Meth, it’s reminiscent of the prime work RZA used to make.
Method Man Finally Got To Hear the Lost Wu-Tang Album After its Inception over a decade ago
“I could see why people will like this album, and I could see why people will love this album,” he shared. “I don’t hate it. The production is on par with some of the stuff that RZA used to do back in the day … I’m gonna give him his props on this one. And I’m gonna validate, this is a valid piece of art right here.”
How come Wu-Tang Clan can’t just buy the album back? After all, it is still their work. Why can’t they just take the record back and finally release it for die-hard fans to listen to? Or at the very least, Method Man and co. would be able to play it again like normal.
According to RZA, he tried to buy it back when Martin Shkreli was trying to get rid of the album. However, due to limitations in the contract of their sale, it prevented the Wu-Tang Clan from ever having real ownership over the record again. Instead, it could only be heard in listening parties, like the one Pablo Torre did for the New York legend.
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