$5 million Wu-Tang album won’t be heard in public for 88 years

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Once Upon a Time in Shaolin

Jake Christensen

Wu-Tang Clan’s newest and possibly final LP, “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,” is unlike all other albums. Recorded in secret during the past several years, only one copy of the double album was created.

“Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” is more than two hours long. The record features 31 tracks, all eight living members of the rap super group, bombs, sirens, original skits and samplings of kung fu cinema. Also featured are appearances from “Game of Thrones” actress Carice van Houten, players from soccer club FC Barcelona and Cher. More than eighty percent of the record’s vocals were re-recorded in order to recreate the intensity of earlier Wu-Tang albums, pushing production to more than two years.

The album has truly unique artwork as well. A Moroccan artist and his team of 10 workers were commissioned to hand carve two nickel-silver boxes to store the CD, a process that took more than three months to complete. Only one physical copy of the album exists, all digital copies have been destroyed and the album is currently up for auction with bidding starting at $5 million. The record is destined to be a museum piece and is being sold through online-only auction house Paddle8. It was also announced that “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” is to remain under copyright until 2103, that’s 88 years.

That means that most people will never get to hear the album in their lifetime. That is unless the future owner of the record decides to distribute it to the public for free, something that is highly unlikely. Cilvaringz, the album’s producer, told Forbes reports that after 88 years, the album’s public and commercial rights transfer to the buyer of the album. Once that happens, it is the owner’s decision of whether or not to release the LP.

Wu-Tang member RZA says that the number “88” is symbolically significant because it’s the sum of the digits in “2015” and the original number of members in Wu-Tang Clan. I just hope that I’m alive in 88 years, so I get a chance to hear it.