Once Upon A Time In Shaolin Archives - Page 2 of 2

Westside Gunn Will Release “Michelle Records” Under One Condition

November 29, 2023 by newhiphopnews

There are very few artists in the world who’ve produced as much art as Westside Gunn. Though the output slowed down in recent years, there was a time when Griselda fans were really eating out here. Numerous projects per year, including albums, mixtapes, and EPs, stellar guest appearances, and a slew of singles kept the growing fanbase fed. However, in the wake of his recent album, And Then You Pray For Me, he revealed that it would be his final studio album. Of course, this led to the assumption that he was retiring completely.

The rumors picked up instantaneously, leading to dismay among the die-hard Griselda fans who’ve been rallying behind the Buffalo-based collective for over 10 years. Fortunately, Gunn quickly dispelled the rumors surrounding retirement during an interview with Rolling Stone. In fact, he stated that fans could expect even more music now that he isn’t tethered to the idea of traditional studio albums. Still, there’s one particular album that fans hope to see surface, Michelle Records.

Westside Gunn Plans To Be In The MoMA

If there’s ever an instance where Westside Gunn loses everything to his name, he plans on banking on Michelle Records to lift him out of financial hardships. During our latest cover story with Westside Gunn, he explains that he has the album tucked away with no immediate plans to release it. However, in the vein of Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon A Time In Shaolin, the infamous body of work that has yet to be heard by the public, Gunn plans to turn it into an art piece “Whenever I get broke, I’m saying, lookin’ like Franklin [Saint] in the last episode [of Snowfall], I know I can cash in that Michelle Records,” he says.

“I might be sittin’ in the f*ckin’ MoMA with a tuxedo on,” he continues. Start the highest bidder at… let me start it at… we’ll start it at $5 million,” Gunn says. Interestingly enough, Westside Gunn isn’t rapping on the album at all. He teased snippets of the production from the album on social media but he confirmed that he leans into his role as a curator even more so on Michelle Records. “I could play that shit right now,” he adds, revealing that the album is complete. “I was already curating ahead of its time. I’m not on one song, but it already [has] your favorites on it.”

Read our latest cover story, Westside Gunn’s Pledge To The Culture.

[Via]

The post Westside Gunn Will Release “Michelle Records” Under One Condition appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

RZA Admits Selling Martin Shkreli Wu-Tang Clan’s Exclusive Album Put It ‘In The Wrong Hands’

October 28, 2021 by newhiphopnews

Wu-Tang Clan had high hopes when they created only one copy of their exclusive album Once Upon A Time In Shaolin, which was meant to be auctioned off and barred from commercial sale for 88 years. But things didn’t quite go according to plan when currently imprisoned “Pharma bro” Martin Shkreli bought the LP before going to jail for several counts of fraud. RZA now admits that selling Shkreli the album was a mistake, but his original vision for Once Upon A Time In Shaolin could still come true after all.

RZA recently sat down for an interview on Hot 97’s Ebro In The Morning radio show, where he discussed selling the album to Shkreli and said it definitely “was in the wrong hands.”

The rapper explained he met with Shkreli before selling him the album, but that was before his true character was revealed. “The thing that’s powerful about it now is, now that it’s out of our hands, no disrespect to Martin Shkreli, because I don’t never knock somebody who bought something,” he said. “But it was in the wrong hands in reality. He made the deal before it was revealed of his character, his personality, and all the insidious things he would go on to do. That wasn’t the guy that I met. He definitely unfolded into that guy. He had control of this one-of-a-kind piece of art, and I could see it was in the wrong hands. But still, it was a sale and I can’t complain about who we sell it to. Everybody’s got a right to buy something that’s for sale.”

The government has now sold Once Upon A Time In Shaolin to NFT organization PleasrDAO in order pay off the $7.4 million forfeiture judgment against Shkreli at the time of his conviction. RZA believes that the album is now in the “right hands” after meeting with the person behind PleasrDAO, saying his original vision for the album could still become a reality:

“But now, I think it’s in the right hands. I’m hoping that it is in the right hands. I spoke to the gentleman who’s leading the way and he just seems to have more of a Wu vibe about him. Wu is a vibe and I strive to say it’s a vibe of positivity, even with the aggression. […] There were some original ideas that we wanted to do with this album. A lot of beautiful ideas that wasn’t disclosed to the public, and I won’t disclose them now, but those ideas were not able to happen with Mr. Shkreli. Now that PleasrDAO has it, there’s an opportunity for a lot of these beautiful ideas of what this art can be and how it can expand itself in the world.”

Watch RZA’s full interview with Ebro In The Morning above.

Wu-Tang Clan’s ‘Once Upon A Time In Shaolin’ Buyers Have Been Revealed

October 20, 2021 by newhiphopnews

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 Anonymous Buyer Of Wu-Tang’s ‘Once Upon A Time In Shaolin’ Will Reveal Their Identity Soon

August 4, 2021 by newhiphopnews

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.

The US Government Has Sold The Wu-Tang Clan Album Seized From Martin Shkreli

July 27, 2021 by newhiphopnews

The mythic Wu-Tang Clan album once purchased for an exorbitant sum by “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli has finally been sold after being seized by the US government. According to the Justice Department, the sole copy of Once Upon A Time In Shaolin was sold off to pay off the $7.4 million forfeiture judgment against Shkreli for his 2018 conviction on securities fraud. A confidentiality provision in the sale contract protects information about the buyer and price.

The album first made waves in 2014 when it was announced that only one copy of the album would be auctioned off, incensing group members like Method Man. The album was purchased by Shkreli in 2015 with the caveat that it couldn’t be commercially exploited for nearly 100 years. When Shkreli was convicted in 2018 for SEC violations, he played the album while talking about it and tried to sell it on eBay to avoid forfeiting it as part of his sentence. When he was sentenced to seven years in prison, the government appropriated the project for the purpose of auctioning it off to pay his debts.

Of course, just because only one copy of the album exists and can’t be monetized for 100 years, doesn’t mean RZA won’t try to make some money off it anyway. In August 2020, the Wu-Tang leader reportedly began production on a film about the album’s convoluted existence for Netflix.