Once Upon A Time In Shaolin

The buyers of the Wu-Tang Clan album, Once Upon A Time In Shaolin, have been revealed as promised. PleasrDAO, a collective of self-declared “DeFi leaders, early NFT collectors, and digital artists,” with a penchant for “acquiring culturally significant pieces with a charitable twist.” The once-of-a-kind album, which was purchased by, “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli in 2015 for $2 million, certainly qualifies. The album, created by RZA in secret over a six-year period, was auctioned off as a kind of high-art stunt after only being played for a handful of people.

Shkreli, of course, lost possession of the album when it was seized by the US government after his 2018 conviction for securities fraud and subsequently auctioned off earlier this year. At the time of the sale, the buyers in question remained anonymous, agreeing to confidentiality with regard to the ultimate sale price. Today, though, The New York Times revealed PleasrDAO as the anonymous buyer in a story documenting both that sale price, $4 million, and the collective’s reasoning and ultimate goals for the album.

It should come as no surprise that the endgame is to make the album available to fans in some way — with permission from RZA and producer Cilvaringz — which, given the group’s own self-description, will likely involve non-fungible token (NFT) blockchain technology. Jamis Johnson, the group’s “Chief Pleasing Officer,” according to Rolling Stone, explained, “This album at its inception was a kind of protest against rent-seeking middlemen, people who are taking a cut away from the artist. Crypto very much shares that same ethos. The album itself is kind of the O.G. NFT.”

PleasrDAO — which stands for “decentralized autonomous organization” — shares collective ownership among its 74 members and have Cilvaringz support to make the album more widely available through listening parties or gallery exhibitions, but for now, it remains bound to the terms of its original sale: It cannot be released to the general public or reproduced until 2103.

The legend of Once Upon A Time In Shaolin continues. The one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album which was previously purchased at auction by Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli was recently sold off by the government to settle Shkreli outstanding debts in the wake of his conviction for securities fraud. Although the buyer was originally anonymous, a representative told CNBC that the buyer will identify themselves “in the next two months or so.”

The album has been the subject of plenty of drama from its inception when RZA made the announcement that only one physical copy would be produced and auctioned off — a decision the other members of the band weren’t all that excited about. Recorded in secret over a six-year period, the album was held in an ornate, jewel-encrusted case with leather-bound notes. It was only exhibited once before being sold. Shkreli bought the album before the controversial price hike of his drug.

Over the next few years, Shkreli played the album on live streams, threatened to destroy it altogether, and promised to release it for free if Donald Trump won the 2016 election — a promise he reneged on. However, the album was forfeit after the controversial investor was convicted for securities fraud. Now, we’ll have to wait and see what happens next and what the new buyer — whoever they are — will do with the project.