The long-mysterious price tag behind the federal government’s sale of Wu-Tang Clan’s one-of-a-kind album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin has finally come to light. According to a recent Bloomberg report, the Department of Justice sold the ultra-rare album for $2.23 million back in 2018 to WTC Endeavours Limited, a Hong Kong-based company.
The album, which contains 31 unreleased tracks, was originally sold to controversial pharma executive Martin Shkreli in 2015 for approximately $2 million. Not long after, Shkreli was convicted of securities fraud and sentenced to seven years in federal prison. As part of his punishment, he was forced to forfeit $7.4 million in assets, including the Wu-Tang album.
In 2021, the U.S. Attorney’s Office confirmed the album had been sold to help repay Shkreli’s debts, but the exact sale amount remained under wraps until now.
The current owners of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin are PleasrDAO, a digital art collective that purchased the album through an intermediary for the crypto equivalent of $4 million. They’ve since turned the album into an NFT experience that allows the public to unlock portions of it. For every $1 donated, fans can hear five minutes of the album, while also knocking 88 seconds off the official 2103 release date. Until then, private listening events remain the only legal way to experience it.
From government asset to digital artifact, Shaolin continues to live up to its legend; rare, untouchable, and deeply entwined with hip hop history.