The story behind Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon a Time in Shaolin is one of the most infamous in hip-hop history. Fans will likely remember when the album’s previous owner, Martin Shkreli, was put in prison in 2017, after being charged with securities fraud. The following year, the Department of Justice seized the album.
In 2021, an NFT/cryptocurrency collective known as PleasrDAO purchased the album after it went without a buyer for several years. However, they bought it from an intermediary. And for years, no one knew how much the intermediary spent on purchasing the album from the DOJ. Its going price had been speculated upon for some time, but no one knew the exact number. Now, in a new piece from Bloomberg, fans have the exact number.
The documents showed that the intermediary purchased the Wu-Tang Clan album for $2,238,482.30. That number is the exact amount that Shkreli owed the government at the time. The album was actually purchased by a company called WTC Endeavours Limited. The company was incorporated in Hong Kong and existed solely to purchase the album.
Jason Leopold, a longtime investigative reporter at Bloomberg and other publications, used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain several documents. These documents included the bill of sale, terms of the sale, photographs of the album, and any emails regarding the sale of the Wu-Tang Clan album. He started his filing in 2021, shortly after the sale of the album was announced. He did not receive the last of the requested documents from the DOJ until July 11, getting an unredacted version of both the bill of sale and purchase agreement.
Wu-Tang Clan Lost Album
Unfortunately, PleasrDAO was restricted to the same terms relating to the album’s release as Martin Shkreli. Private listenings are allowed, but the company cannot duplicate it until 2103. However, the company had discussions with members of Wu-Tang Clan in 2024, and found a workaround to the dilemma.
They turned it into an NFT.
Fans can pay to speed up Once Upon a Time in Shaolin’s release by 88 seconds per dollar. At the current rate, it would cost nearly $30 million to get the album out to the public, significantly more than the price they paid for it. Even though most fans will probably never hear the album, the Wu have stayed busy. They finished up their last tour as a group on July 18, and have more future projects planned, including a documentary and a video game.
