Wu-Tang Clan's 'Once Upon A Time In Shaolin' Album To Debut At Art Exhibit

The world will finally have a chance to experience Wu-Tang Clan's revered album Once Upon a Time In Shaolin, but there's only way to hear it.

On Monday, May 27, the Museum of Old & New Art (MONA) in Tasmania announced the sole copy of the group's seventh studio album will be played while on display in its upcoming exhibit, "Namedropping." Beginning on June 15, loyal fans can travel to the island nation off the Southern coast of Australia to hear select tracks from the album during a string of 30-minute listening sessions inside MONA's Frying Pan Studios.

The origin behind Once Upon a Time In Shaolin is one of the most craziest stories in Hip-Hop history. The entire group secretly recorded the album in Staten Island over the course of six years with producer Cilvaringz, who produced the project in Morocco. One copy of the album was made in 2014 and the original files associated with the album's creation were deleted, which makes it the only version of the LP in the world. Once Upon a Time In Shaolin was put up for auction in 2015 and purchased by former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli for $2 million, which made it the most expensive recording ever.

"We're about to put out a piece of art like nobody else has done in the history of [modern] music," RZA told Forbes about the album in 2014. "We're making a single-sale collector's item. This is like somebody having the scepter of an Egyptian king."

After Shkreli was incarcerated for securities fraud in 2018, all of his assets were seized by a federal court — including the album. In 2021, the Department of Justice announced it had sold the album to PleasrDAO for $4 million. As per the terms of the legal agreement, the current owner can only play the album during listening sessions.

The museum, who received the album on loan from PleasrDAO, will host the listening sessions two times each weekday until Monday, June 24. Tickets for the event are free, but you'll have to act fast. MONA expects the limited time slots will fill up quickly. Tickets will be available beginning this Thursday, May 30.