Wu-Tang Clan celebrating 20th anniversary with two new LPs, one you might never hear (but stream a track from the other)

Thinking inside the box:

Veteran Staten Island hip hop crew Wu-Tang Clan are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year with a few different projects. First up is a story that would sound like an early April fools joke if it was from anyone else — The Wu – Once Upon A Time In Shaolin is a new 31-track album recorded in secret over the last couple years. Your chance at hearing it, though, is only slightly better than your odds of scoring a reservation at Rao’s.

Forbes reports that only one copy of the album is being produced which will be kept in a handcrafted engraved silver-and-nickel box and will then be toured in museums. It is there that the public may pay to listen to the album via headphones after a thorough screening process to keep pirates at bay. After the museum tour, the album will be put up for sale “in the millions,” says RZA. He’s got more to say about the record:

We’re about to sell an album like nobody else sold it before. We’re about to put out a piece of art like nobody else has done in the history of [modern] music. We’re making a single-sale collector’s item. This is like somebody having the scepter of an Egyptian king.

For a Wu-Tang Clan album you will be able to purchase, the group — who are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year — will release A Better Tomorrow this summer. Maybe. Dissent within the group — mainly between RZA and everyone else — might make this A Better Tomorrow (Or The Month After That). Says Raekwon in a recent (and mammoth) feature on Grantland:

It’s like getting the United Nations to all agree on one fucking thing. Italy ain’t having it. Japan is on some shit. You know what I mean? Now, here it is, the 20-year anniversary that’s so decoratedly respected that we might not even be on time for this shit.

Whether the album is done or not, you can stream a track from it, “Keep Watch,” below.

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