It is finally possible to listen to the latest Wu-Tang Clan album

Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, a title that exudes magnificence just by reading it, is the name of the seventh and final studio album by the Wu-Tang Clan, released in 2015. It has an incredible story: only one copy exists in the world, and it is in the hands of a controversial American businessman. Martin Shkreli, who in March 2018 was sentenced to 7 years in prison for two counts of fraud, purchased it for the price of two million dollars, the highest amount ever spent on a music album. According to Cyrus Bozorgmer, a consultant who worked with the band during the album's creation, the idea behind Once Upon a Time in Shaolin was born during a night atop the Great Pyramid of Khufu, after Bozorgmer met Cilvaringz of the Wu-Tang Clan in Morocco in 2007. On that occasion, the band decided to record the most limited album ever - available, indeed, in a single copy. The choice was motivated by the need to break away from the music industry norms, from the virtual platform market, and the group's need to create a unique work of art. RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan stated: «We are about to sell an album in a way that no one has ever explored before. We are about to release a piece of art like no one has ever done before in the history of music, a collectible object available to a single buyer. It will be like having the scepter of an Egyptian king».

After Shkreli's purchase, very few people had the opportunity to listen to Once Upon a Time in Shaolin: in 2015, a select group of 150 music critics, fans, and potential buyers listened to a 13-minute preview. Following Shkreli's conviction for corporate fraud, the United States Department of Justice seized the album and put it back up for auction. Since then, the group of investors who bought it - a collective called PleasrDAO - has been seeking a way to allow as many people as possible to listen to it without violating the conditions set by the Wu-Tang Clan. After some negotiations with the parties involved, PleasrDAO managed to loan a digital copy to the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart, on the Australian island of Tasmania, for an exhibition that will conclude in just under a year. Interested parties will need to book a ticket to take part in the experience, a 30-minute mix played on a Playstation 1.