Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon a Time in Shaolin Album Released as $1 NFTs – Here’s How You Can Buy One

Want to own a piece of rap history for just $1? Digital art collective PleasrDAO has announced that it is selling Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon a Time in Shaolin album as $1 NFTs.

The album, which has been “digitized and encrypted,” can be purchased at www.thealbum.comand features new artwork designed by artist Hassan Rahim.

Buyers who purchase the NFT will have access to a five-minute preview of the album created by the record’s co-producer, Cilvaringz. Each sale will also increase the album’s original release date of 2103 by 88 seconds – from the original decryption date of October 8, 2103.

Users will not need cryptocurrency to purchase the NFTs. According to PleasrDAO, proceeds from the sale “will go in part to the original Wu-Tang Clan, the album producer and the artists.”

Once Upon a Time in Shaolin producers RZA and Cilvaringz said about the project [via Pitchfork]. “Mass replication has fundamentally changed the way we view a recorded piece of music, while digital universality and the disappearance of physicality have broken our emotional bond with a piece of music as a work of art and a deeply personal treasure.”

“Selling this album is about more than just music,” added PleasrDAO representative Matt Matkov. “It’s about redefining how we think about music ownership and fan collaboration in the digital age.”

Once Upon a Time in Shaolin it was recorded in secret for six years before being completed in 2015. Only one copy of the album was made and it was sold at auction for $2 million to pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli. After Shkreli was convicted of securities fraud in 2018, the The US government seized the album as part of a £5.3 million confiscation order.

In 2021, PleasrDAO purchased the album for $4 million and has been working to find ways to share it with the public. To complicate matters, the the company recently filed a lawsuit against Shkreli for allegedly copying and distributing the album online without the group’s permission. Pleasr argued that Shkreli had live-streamed parts of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin several times violating the initial sales contract which stipulated that the album could not be commercially exploited until 2103.

Responding to the news on Even though I paid once, they paid twice, and the album sucks.”

He also asked the public to “wait for the pirated version”, claiming that he has already played Once Upon a Time in Shaolin “500 times publicly” since he acquired it before the Pleasr purchase.

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