Martin Shkreli - Once Upon a Time in Shaolin
photo via martishkrel_7 on Ebay

Wu-Tang Clan's 'Once Upon a Time in Shaolin' sold to crypto collective for $4 million

The only copy in existence of Wu-Tang Clan‘s Once Upon A Time in Shaolin has a new owner. The extremely limited album, recorded in secret over the course of six years, was auctioned for millions to disgraced “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli in 2015, who was then forced to forfeit it, along with other assets, after being found guilty of securities fraud. Shaolin was sold to an undisclosed buyer in July, and now the New York Times reports that it’s been acquired by cryptocurrency collection PleasrDAO. According to the Times, PleasrDAO acquired the album for $4 million on September 10 and have been keeping it in a “vault” in NYC.

PleasrDAO has been in the news recently for buying the original 2010 “Doge” meme for $4 million as an NFT, and then putting small portions of it up to sale, in “fractional” form, to the general public while they continue to retain majority ownership. It’s possible we’ll see them offer something similar with Shaolin. “We believe that we can do something with this piece to enable it to be shared and ideally owned in part by fans and anyone in the world,” PleasrDAO’s Jamis Johnson told the Times.

“This album at its inception was a kind of protest against rent-seeking middlemen, people who are taking a cut away from the artist,” Johnson continued to the Times. “Crypto very much shares that same ethos.”

“The album itself is kind of the O.G. NFT,” Johnson also told the Times.

Get Wu-Tang Clan’s Execution in Autumn 7″, Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s Return to the 36 Chambers double vinyl, RZA’s Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx on purple double vinyl, and Inspectah Deck’s Chamber No. 9 on vinyl in the BV store. In addition to being in Wu-Tang, Inspectah Deck is also part of Czarface, and you can get their Super What LP with MF DOOM on vinyl, too.