Wu-Tang Clan is really pushing the envelope these days to keep music as an art alive and well.
In an interview with Forbes, Robert “RZA” Diggs of Wu-Tang said that only one copy of their double album The Wu-Once Upon A Time In Shaolin (recorded in secret for the past few years) will be released.
“We’re about to sell an album like nobody else sold it before,” Diggs says to Forbes. “We’re about to put out a piece of art like nobody else has done in the history of [modern] music.”
The cost of this one and only copy is expected to be in the million-dollar range to the highest bidder. Before the double album is even sold, it will be making stops at museums, galleries and possibly music festivals.
“We’re making a single-sale collector’s item. This is like somebody having the scepter of an Egyptian King,” Diggs says.
Those interested in listening to the album will have to pay to attend a “listening event” where they'll be checked for recording materials. According to the Forbes article, the album will be encased in a “silver and nickel box crafted by British-Moroccan artist Yahya.”
Wu-Tang Clan’s purpose in releasing one copy of The Wu-Once Upon A Time In Shaolin is to preserve the concept of an album and not have it diminished by giving a record away for free.
“It might totally flop, and we might be completely ridiculed,” co-producer Tarik “Cilvaringz” Azzougarh said to Forbes. “But the essence and core of our ideas is to inspire creation and originality and debate, and save the music album from dying,” he adds.
