Rap collective the Wu-Tang Clan are continuing their journey towards one of the genre’s strangest music releases. Their album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, of which only one copy exists, is due to be sold via the online auction site Paddle8, after being stored, according to reports, in a Moroccan vault last year.
“We will announce Paddle8 as [the] official auction house,” RZA, told Forbes. In November 2014, RZA said the album had been given to an auction house ahead of a possible event at the Art Basel exhibition in Miami in December 2015. It is unclear whether he was referring to Paddle8.
Sarah Goulet, head of communications at Paddle8, told Forbes that Once Upon a Time in Shaolin’s sale would not follow the terms of a general auction. Rather, the album would be made available as a private sale, with a price upon request, she said. Once the band and auctioneer had separated genuine bids from possible scams, they would handpick a buyer rather than sell to to the highest bidder.
Once Upon a Time in Shaolin is a 128-minute, 31-song double album, mainly produced by Wu-Tang collaborator Tarik “Cilvaringz” Azzougarh. Its unorthodox pricing and release process is meant to remind fans of the true value of music, with Azzougarh telling the Abu Dhabi National last April that “this was all about trying to bring music back to the status of high art”.
So far, not much else is known about the album’s content. Though RZA and Roulet revealed little to Forbes, the Wu-Tang Clan are planning to launch a special website for Once Upon a Time in Shaolin later this month. The microsite is set to feature a “sneak peek” tracklist, interviews and essays related to the group.
Last April, RZA told Billboard that the album had already raked in an offer for £3m ($5m). For fans who don’t have millions languishing in bank accounts, the song snippets on the album microsite may be the only chance to hear parts of it.
But for the non-billionaires, last year’s A Better Tomorrow is available to listen to now.
