Wu-Tang Clan has been offered $5 million for their next album.
“Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” is the upcoming album from Wu-Tang Clan, but the group will only release one unique copy of which they will auction off. After RZA announced the auction, various offers flooded in ranging from $2 million to $5 million.
“Offers came in at $2 million, somebody offered $5 million yesterday,” RZA told Billboard .”I’ve been getting a lot of e-mails: some from people I know, some from people I don’t know, and they’re also e-mailing other members of my organization.”
RZA wants the 31-track album to be seen as a form of contemporary art in this digital music era and wants people to value the idea that “music is art”, and the album represents just that. The album was recorded in secret over the last few years and was produced by Tarik Azzougarh, who is better known as Cilvaringz. Initial reports say that possibly all of the Staten Island group’s members, which currently include RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Masta Killa will appear on the new album.
The unique “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” album will be put on display at museums and will be housed in a hand carved nickel-silver box designed by British-Moroccan artist Yahya. Wu-Tang Clan plans to never commercially release the album to the public, but fans will be able to pay an entrance fee at the museums where the album will be displayed, possibly costing fans $30 to $50 to see the exhibit.
“The main theme is music being accepted and respected as art and being treated as such,” RZA stated. “If something is rare, it’s rare. You cannot get another.”
Fans can enjoy their music soon, because the group has another project in the works, A Better Tomorrow, which is scheduled to release this summer.
