It could well be the most expensive album in history, but you won’t be able to hear a note of it until 2103.
Legendary hip hop crew the Wu-Tang Clan have finally produced another album, but their fans will unfortunately miss out. That’s because only one disc will be printed, and then auctioned off for millions to the highest bidder.
This week, the group, lead by super-producer RZA, finally lifted the lid on Once Upon A Time In Shaolin, playing a selection of new tracks for a small party of fans and prospective buyers. The album is housed inside a Morrocan hand-crafted silver and cedar wood treasure chest, covered with black cow leather and light beige velvet lining.
According to the Daily Mail, the album package includes a leather-bound 174-page manuscript printed on gilded Fedrigoni Marina parchment with lyrics, credits, tales about the recording.
It will be auctioned off at a private, online-only sale later this month through the art dealers Paddle8. The prospective buyer will not be able to share the 31-track double album for 88years.
This new Wu-Tang album is seen as an attempt to break free from the era of free music shared online between fans.
“This has never been done before,” RZA said.
“Music is just handed out now, the industry is in crisis. People feel like they deserve to have it for free. This is art. You can take a picture of the Mona Lisa but that's not art.
“The same with this: you can never reproduce it – this is the final thing.”
According to one Chinese prospective buyer at the event, collectors are clamouring to get their hands on the record, whether they like the music or not.
“Someone said it would be worth $1 million. That's nothing. This is something completely different; completely new. I don't think I could put a price on it.
“The concept has not been seen before – and from the biggest rap collective in history... It is huge.”
According to Cilvarings, a Morrocan producer who worked on the album and is considered one of RZA’s proteges, this sentiment makes perfect sense.
“People like Dre or Kanye or RZA are geniuses in what they do, and their music is valued at 99 cents.
“No disrespect to Andy Warhol, Basquiat, Damien Hirst, or any other artists, but if you walk down the streets and ask people randomly, ‘Do you know Damien Hirst? Do you know Basquiat?’ they'll say ‘Who?’ If you say, ‘Do you know Dr. Dre? Do you know Kanye?,’ they'll say ‘Yeah’.”
The Wu-Tang Clan formed in the early 1990s. Their music, a vivid cinematic take on life on the streets, punctuated with kung-fu mythology and soul music snippets quickly catapulted them to the forefront of the genre. RZA, the defacto leader of the group, pulled nine rappers into the project, including his cousins GZA and the late Ol’Dirty Bastard. The remaining emcees include some of the most celebrated rappers in hip hop history, including Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah; Masta Killa; U-God and Inspectah Deck.
Tonight Reporter