With a single copy made and strict rules on sharing it, Wu-Tang Clan’s 2015 album is the ultimate limited edition. Is that about to change? On the first song on their first album, Staten Island rap collective Wu-Tang Clan promise to “bring da ruckus”. They’ll bring a very different energy from June 15 when visitors to a museum in Tasmania will have a unique opportunity to experience the group’s LP Once Upon A Time in Shaolin – a record that exists as just a single copy that was initially acquired by a pharmaceutical entrepreneur (since jailed) for US$2 million (NZ$3.
27m). Wu-Tang Clan have never done things the easy way. They have a sprawling nine members (not counting late co-founder Russell Tyrone Jones , aka Ol’ Dirty Bastard, who overdosed on cocaine and prescription medication in 2004).
Inspired by 1970s kung-fu movies as much as by the greats of hip-hop, their music blends blistering beats, bare-boned rapping and film samples. Collaborators have ranged from rapper Killah Priest to Texas frontwoman Sharleen Spiteri. But nothing in their career has been quite as ambitious or insane as Once Upon A Time in Shaolin – often referred to as the most valuable album ever created, with a worth of US$4m (NZ$6.
48m) and counting. Once Upon A Time in Shaolin was recorded between 2006 and 2013 by Wu-Tang Clan leader RZA, aka 54-year-old Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, and Dutch-Moroccan producer Cilvaringz (real name Tarik Azzougarh). During that time, they would bring in othe.
