Music

The $2 million Wu-Tang album was bought by hated pharma CEO

by Jeremy Mersereau

Last year, venerable hip-hop collective the Wu-Tang Clan announced that there would be only one copy of their next album, Once Upon A Time In Shaolin, sold to the highest bidder. Last month, RZA and co. made a second announcement on the sale of the album for a figure “in the millions”, that it wouldn’t be out commercially for 88 years, and that the buyer was “a private American collector.” It turns out RZA forgot to add “…of tears” at the end there.

Now, thanks to Bloomberg, we have both figures: OUATIS was acquired for $2 million, and hated pharmaceutical exec and lock for Troll of The Year Martin Shkreli was the buyer. Prior to his purchase, Shkreli wasn’t exactly known for his love of “Protect Ya Neck” or “Gravel Pit”: “raising the price of a AIDS drug Deraprim by 5000% overnight” was more his jam. Hmmm, must’ve been a deep cut from Iron Flag or something.

For their part, the Clan wasn’t aware of Shkreli’s questionable business practices back when the sale was finalized. “The sale of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin was agreed upon in May, well before Martin Skhreli’s [sic] business practices came to light. We decided to give a significant portion of the proceeds to charity,” RZA said in a statement.

Shkreli says his 2 million bought him the opportunity to have lunch with RZA, which I’m guessing was probably a meeting even more awkward than the average Stephan Jenkins interview. “We didn’t have a ton in common,” Shkreli said of the meeting. Yeah, I bet.

Asked if he’s listened to the album yet, Shkreli says he’s “saving it for a rainy day.” Sounds like Once Upon A Time In Shaolin ended up in the right hands. Method Man was right: the whole thing is stupid. Let this be a lesson to all aspiring millionaires out there: Allow yourself to become fodder for the internet hate machine for a few measly weeks, and the system will reward you with untold wealth and personal Wu-Tang albums.