On a trip to Egypt in 2004, the first ideated a new Wu-Tang Clan album that would deservedly treat music as high art, not as a commodity to create and distribute quickly and on a dime. By the time the LP "came out" in 2015, following almost a decade of studio sessions with the whole Wu, the project became a more pertinent experiment and statement amid streaming's rising devaluation of music. He and producer Cilvaringz worked heavily on recreating that gritty sound from the days, compiling verses from every surviving member of the rap group plus some extra names like and Cher.
So when 2015 rolled around, and the album released as a unique physical copy with no digital equivalent, the idea was to tour it around museums, listening events, and the like before landing on a single buyer. Wu-Tang Clan members like , , and all voiced their grievances over remaining in the dark on this release strategy. Despite the internal conflicts of the group, stuck to this approach, and its legacy continues to champion this idea, albeit in an altered manner, to this day.
But it definitely went through many obstacles to find itself in 2024, and will likely face more. But where did this all start? entered the steep marketplace with some legal stipulations: its eventual owner would not be able to release or profit off of the album until 2103, . About 150 art aficionados, critics, and art dealers heard the album at a MoMA listening session in 2015, and auction house Paddle8 searched for a buyer.
This.
