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It’s been close to a decade since the Wu-Tang Clan released Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, an album that virtually no one has heard due to the fact that the group only produced a single copy that was initially auctioned off to infamous “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli.
However, fans of the legendary hip-hop group will finally get the chance to hear at least some of it as long as they’re willing to travel to a museum located on the island of Tasmania next month.
If you keep tabs on the Wu-Tang Clan, you’re probably familiar with the fascinating saga of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, the double album that was recorded over a seven-year period before the one and only copy of that was made went up for auction in 2015.
The record was first purchased by Martin Shkreli, who reportedly dropped $2 million to secure the one-of-a-kind creation that was accompanied by a legal clause that prohibited any commercial usage for the span of 88 years but gave the owner permission to host listening parties if they so desired.
The album eventually found itself entangled in the legal saga that unfolded after Shkreli was charged with securities fraud before landing in prison after being convicted in 2017. Once Upon a Time in Shaolin was included in the collection of assets he was forced to forfeit to the federal government to the tune of $7.4 million, and no one was really sure what its fate would be.
Wu-Tang Clan fans unsuccessfully lobbied the feds to release it to the people before it was sold to a collective of NFT artists known as PleasrDAO for $4 million in 2021. The group hinted they had plans to take advantage of the listening party clause in the buying agreement, and while it took a few years for the vision to be realized, members of the public are finally getting the chance to hear Once Upon a Time in Shaolin for the first time.
According to The Guardian, Pleasr is loaning out the record to the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart, Tasmania, which will allow visitors to listen to a “curated 30-minute mix of the album” during sessions that are scheduled to be held between June 15th and 24th.
It will be played two times per day at Mona and tickets are free if you’re able to get your hands on them when they go on sale on May 30th. However, unless you reside on the island 300 off the coast of Australia, you’ll have to pay your own way to get to the museum.