Wu-Tang

‘Succession’ Fans Are Disappointed This Week’s Episode Never Delivered On ‘Tiny Wu-Tang’

by
wu-tang clan
Getty Image

Succession remains appointment television on Sunday nights and, as usual, digital water cooler Twitter is abuzz with talk of the latest episode a day later. However, today’s chatter is slightly different than the usual disdainful amusement at the antics of the toxic Roy family in their endless power struggle. Today, there is an air of disappointment that Sunday’s episode did not deliver on the potential entertainment value of Kendall Roy’s 40th birthday party.

Sure, we got pesky little brother Roman antagonizing his older brother, Shiv’s dance floor meltdown, Connor’s coat (and polling-related injury), and cousin Greg‘s victorious date proposal (though Comfry may have just accepted out of spite for Ken’s nonstop buffoonery), but the one thing we didn’t get was the one thing the show’s writers had to have known we’d want from the moment they wrote the words: Tiny Wu-Tang.

succession: tiny wu tang
HBO

Just look at Rava’s face. The skepticism mixed with wonderment and just a dash of curiosity. Truly, she is all of us.

And then Kendall (probably wisely) pulled the plug on his schlocky performance idea (crucified, singing Billy Joel’s “Honesty.” Whew, lord, that man isn’t just out of touch — he’s never been in it). And so we all missed out on what could very well have been the most side-splittingly harebrained of his birthday plans. Fans aren’t happy about it, either.

Ah, well. It’s probably better we didn’t get this anyway. Could you imagine those poor kids having to tour behind some dumb joke from an HBO show? That’s one future reality show we definitely don’t need to be subjected t– aw, dangit. Now, I want that too.

RZA Reveals That A Long-Rumored ODB Biopic Is Indeed Happening

by
rza-tf-uproxx.jpg
Mike Relm

Earlier this year, Wu-Tang’s Once Upon A Time In Shaolin album was sold by the government to pay off part of ultra-weasel Martin Shkreli’s $7.4 million forfeiture judgment. But members of The Wu-Tang Clan have stayed plenty busy with other endeavors. For starters, the second season of the Hulu show Wu-Tang: An American Saga came out, and one of its members, RZA, re-launched his series Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater on his platform 36 Cinema, which hosts screenings of old school kung-fu and blaxploitation films, complete with guests and live commentary.

In a recent interview with Mic, where RZA spoke about An American Saga, the 2019 Sacha Jenkins-directed documentary Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men, and the need for Black voices to tell Black stories. He also revealed that he is working on a biopic about Ol’ Dirty Bastard. If you’ve heard about this before, it’s because in 2018, The Hollywood Reporter ran a story revealing the project was green-lit by Columbia Pictures, that it would be produced by RZA, and that a search for a director and screenwriter were underway. Not only that, but he shared that it’s part of a bigger vision:

“The documentary was to capture the story as best we can in the reality of it, and then the TV series was to dramatize it. The third tier of the plan, which I’m in progress of, is an ODB movie biopic. Like the five-year Wu-Tang plan, this was a five-year media plan that I concocted, I meditated on, and I’m striving to live out. So far, it’s working well.”

ODB was a polarizing figure, to say the least, and his life was shrouded in equal parts flamboyance and mystique. A RZA-produced biopic is sure to shed light on his fantastic and mad existence.

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

by

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.

Leaked: Secret Wu-Tang Clan Game Coming For XBOX

by

Wu-Tang x X-Box Collabo

A new XBOX game based on the Wu-Tang Clan is in development according to a secret data leak. The iconic hip hop group that brought us The RZA, Ghostface Killah, Method Man, and more East coast music icons will be featured heavily in a new action RPG and gamers are amped. Wu-Tang Video Game In […]

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

by
Getty Image

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

by
Getty Image

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

by
Getty Image

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.

Raekwon And Ghostface Killah’s Verzuz Battle Date Has Been Set

by
Getty Image

A few weeks ago, Swizz Beats and Timbaland confirmed that rap legends and Wu-Tang bandmates Ghostface Killah and Raekwon The Chef would participate in an upcoming episode of the popular streaming concert series Verzuz, and today, they revealed the specifics of the upcoming kung-fu duel. Raekwon Vs. Ghostface has been set for Saturday, March 20 at 5 pm PT / 8 pm ET. Fans will have a new viewing option, as well; in the wake of Swizz and Tim’s partnership with Triller, the next battle will stream on the app rather than Apple Music, where it has previously streamed.

While Ghostface and Rae have spent much of the last year laying — typical of the Wu-Tang brotherhood as a whole when they’re not promoting a new album (or squabbling over it) — Ghost did reveal in 2019 he’s working on a horror thriller with RZA and in 2017, he was early on the cryptocurrency bandwagon, so don’t be surprised if he flogs an NFT or two during the show. Meanwhile, Raekwon celebrated the 25th anniversary of Only Built 4 Cuban Linx with a deluxe vinyl reissue, teasing work on a second sequel to turn the Cuban Linx brand into a trilogy. The Wu-Tang as a whole has an elaborately-produced photobook coming out but getting ahold of it sounds like the luck of the draw.

Check out the upcoming Verzuz on 3/20 on the Verzuz Instagram and Triller app.

Wu-Tang Clan Is Releasing A Rare Photobook Enclosed In A 400-Pound Bronze Chamber

by

It’s been nearly three decades since Wu-Tang Clan formed their iconic group in NYC. To celebrate the group’s legacy, Wu-Tang are releasing a photobook featuring never-before-scene pictures spanning their entire career. But it’s not just any photobook. Rather, the book comes enclosed in a specially-made, 400-pound chamber.

Titled Wu-Tang Clan: Legacy, the 300-page commemorative book is the “biggest and rarest book in the history of Hip Hop,” according to Wu-Tang’s website. Each copy is signed by Wu-Tang members, dated, numbered, and accompanied by certificates of authenticity.

It’s limited to only 36 copies, hence the “rarest book” description, and will arrive alongside a bronze chamber individually designed by sculptor Gethin Jones. For the chamber, Jones took inspiration from the bronze ritual bowls used in the Zhou Dynasty, whose first ruler was King Wu-Wang.

Speaking about the photobook in a statement, CEO of Wu-Tang Clan Management John ‘Mook’ Gibbons expressed his anticipation about the project. “From conception to the present day, this is the story of the undisputed greatest hip-hop group of all time being unveiled through rare and never before seen photos,” he said.

Watch a teaser video for the Wu-Tang Clan: Legacy book above and find out how to order it here.