Nfts
Wu-Tang Clan’s ‘Secret’ Album Now Available for $1 NFT
NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 25: Cappadonna, Method Man, Ghostface Killah and Inspectah Deck perform live… [+] during Tribeca TV: Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics And Men at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival at the Beacon Theater on April 25, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Steven Ferdman/Getty Images for the Tribeca Film Festival)
Getty Images for the Tribeca Film Festival
Fans can now enjoy and partially own the 88-year-old hidden album through an affordable NFT
APENFT
a purchase that hastens its release.
Wu-Tang Clan’s surreptitious album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, maintains its advocacy for the valorization of music in the digital age. Owned by PleasrDAO, the digital art collective, the album is now available to the public as an NFT for at least $1, highlighting a crucial shift from its exclusive past.
PleasrDAO partnered with marketing and e-commerce platform Privy, as well as blockchain platforms Crossmint and Holograph, to distribute the crypto album on Base, a layer 2 blockchain network developed by Coinbase that offers a scalable environment, secure and user-friendly. to create decentralized applications.
In 2015, Martin Shkreli, infamous for his actions in the pharmaceutical industry, purchased the Wu-Tang Clan album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin for $2 million at an auction. This sale, surrounded by controversy, included a contract limiting public distribution for 88 years.
Marked for official release in 2103, an era that the digital art collective playfully notes in its X organic“will come faster than you think.”
Shkreli, infamous as a “pharmaceutical bro” for dramatically raising the price of the life-saving drug Daraprim, had his assets, including the album, seized by the U.S. government after his 2017 conviction for securities fraud.
In 2021, PleasrDAO purchased the album from the US government for $4 million. Since then, the prestigious digital art group has been exploring ways to democratize access to this sacred piece of music history.
For every dollar PleasrDAO receives from these sales, the 88-year waiting period for the album’s full public release will be reduced by 88 seconds. Although fans can access the album for $1, they will receive a five-minute sample as accessibility to the full album remains discreet. Notably, cryptocurrency is not required to purchase the NFT, making it accessible to a wider audience.
PleasrDAO has made a name for itself purchasing culturally significant digital artwork, including Edward Snowden’s “Stay Free” NFT and the iconic Dogecoin.
Dogecoin
artwork.
Addressing the New York Times On Thursday, PleasrDAO member Camilla McFarland expressed the collective’s goal of democratizing access to art. “It’s always our intention,” she noted, “to take these original works of art and find a way, honoring the original vision of the artist, to get them back into the hands of the people. “
PleasrDAO’s secret work with the Wu-Tang Clan to sell their album aligns with their mission to preserve the legendary group’s artistic vision while making the art accessible to a wider audience.
DEL MAR, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 13: RZA (left) and Ghostface Killah of Wu-Tang Clan perform during… [+] KAABOO Del Mar 2019 at Del Mar Race Track on September 13, 2019 in Del Mar, California. (Photo by Gary Miller/Getty Images)
Getty Images
Proceeds from NFT sales will be shared with Wu-Tang Clan and Wu-Tang Clan mastermind RZA and Cilvaringz, both producers of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, ensuring that creators benefit from this innovative distribution method .
“Mass replication has fundamentally changed our perception of recorded music,” RZA and Cilvaringz said in a press release. They added: “The shift to digital universality and the disappearance of physical media have disrupted our emotional connection to music as a work of art and personal treasure.”
When news broke of the secret nature of the album and its restriction from the public for 88 years, Method Man expressed his displeasure with Cilvaringz. In a 2015 interview with HuffPost Livehe described the secret album’s approach as “gimmicky” and “weird”.
“By the way, I can’t stand Cilvaringz. …Basically, I was tired of the questions about the album and not being aware of what’s going on on a daily basis. It’s never us who come with gimmicks,” he said.
“It’s always on the outside, some guy ‘B’ Wu or someone like that who comes in with such fancy shit. It makes you scratch your head and ask yourself, “Why Wu-Tang?” when it’s not Wu-Tang. He’s just an individual who thinks he knows what’s best and just does weird things, man. I think it’s just really weird.
The “Bring the Pain” host later discredited the mixer, despite acknowledging the album’s existence. “Yes, I am discrediting Cilvaringz, but I am not discrediting the product. I am only discrediting him and the way he acted. I dug it at first, but when they start doing this whole 88 thing without explaining it to people, because there are a lot more stupid people than smart people. For a lot of people, that means that when you’re 88, you won’t be able to hear this album.
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 03: Ghostface Killah (left) and Method Man of Wu-Tang Clan perform… [+] on stage with The Roots during the 2022 Essence Festival of Culture at the Louisiana Superdome on July 3, 2022 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Essence)
Getty Images for Essence
Reflecting on the album’s tumultuous history, Wu-Tang Clan emcee Ghostface Killah expressed his disappointment with Shkreli’s acquisition. In an interview with The Guardian, he remarked: “Very disappointed. Everyone was crazy. But he won the auction and that’s it. I just made my recordings, turned them in and that’s all I had to do. I haven’t seen any money made from it. I’ve never actually heard the album either.
Despite the challenges, Ghostface Killah remains hopeful that fans will eventually discover the album, saying, “I guess you’ll all get a chance to hear it one day.” I don’t know. I have nothing to do with this album. Zero!”
Fans currently have a rare chance to experience the album at the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Hobart, Tasmania, where it is on display from June 15-24. PleasrDAO also recently held private listening sessions in New York, providing a select few with the opportunity to listen to the album before its general release.
Earlier this month (June 10), PleasrDAO filed a lawsuit against Martin Shkreli in a Brooklyn federal court, as reported Fork. The litigation accuses Shkreli of unauthorized reproduction and public performance of the album. PleasrDAO claims that Shkreli violated the forfeiture order requiring preservation of the album.
Shkreli has acknowledged publicly playing copies of the album, including a recent example on X the day before the lawsuit is filed. PleasrDAO claims that these actions depreciate the value of the album and harm the reputation and commercial potential of the collective. The lawsuit seeks an inventory and seizure of Shkreli’s copies, as well as damages and other remedies.