One of the weirdest mysteries the music world has ever seen is the album, Once Upon A Time In Shaolin. There is only one copy in existence that has been seized by the government and cannot be played until 2103. Maybe, just maybe I will live to 101 years old and be in the nursing home bumping some ODB and Method Man but, I don’t like the odds.
This album is the seventh studio album by the Wu-Tang Clan and was recorded over a six year span in secret from 2007-2013. The album is produced by Cilvaringz who initially had Once Upon A Time In Shaolin as an art project. The album was recorded in Staten Island for the most part and was produced in Morocco.
The project includes every member of the Wu-Tang Clan with various features from Redman, the Wu-Tang Killa Beez, Carcie Van Houten who acted in Game of Thrones, FC Barcelona soccer players, and two appearances from Cher.
In 2015, Paddle8 was hired to auction off the illustrious album. About 150 business people, art collectors, and art dealers were in attendance for the auction of the album. Every individual was closely searched for recording devices and thirteen minutes of the album was played to those in the crowd. Due to legal agreements, the album could not be publicly played for 88 years, although it could be released and played for listening parties.
The reason for the 88 year embargo is because, there were 8 original Wu-Tang Clan members, the numbers of the year 2015 add up to 8, Paddle8 has 8 in their title, and a rotated 8 is the infinity sign which is on the second Wu-Tang Clan album, Wu-Tang forever.
The winning bid was accepted on May 3, 2015 and the transaction was completed on August 26, 2015 to an undisclosed bidder. A few months later on December 9, 2015, Bloomberg Businessweek identified the buyer as Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO, Martin Shkreli. He paid two million dollars to get his hands on the album.
In January of 2016, the power of Once Upon A Time In Shaolin began to goto Shkreli’s head. In an interview with Vice, Shkreli said he contemplated destroying the project or installing it in some remote place so that people have to make a spiritual quest to listen. He also made a promise to release the album for free if Donald J. Trump won the presidential election in 2016, which he did. In November of ‘16 after Trump won, Shkreli uploaded excerpts of the album online.
Here’s where the story gets interesting. In 2017, Shkreli attempted to sell the album on eBay and only a few days into the auction, he was arrested and convicted of security fraud. A federal court ended up seizing 7.36 million dollars worth of assets from Shkreli, including Once Upon A Time In Shaolin. Now, the government has the album and unless I live to be 101, I can never hear it.
I am a die hard Wu-Tang Clan fan and there are numerous things I would do to hear Once Upon A Time In Shaolin once, just once. It’s such a shame that myself and other fans will never have the opportunity to hear the greatest rap group of all time on this “forbidden” track.