Hip hop fans in Hobart are now among the first in the world to have listened to the world's most expensive and most secretive album. Wu-Tang Clan's “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” is on loan at MONA. But the album's owners are facing a bitter legal dispute over alleged leaks.
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00:00Security is tight and anticipation is high, as hip-hop fans arrive for a once-in-a-lifetime
00:08experience.
00:09I thought I'd be dead before it was public released, so the fact it's here, yeah, it
00:15is crazy.
00:16With their pockets emptied, they make their way inside Mona's recording studio to become
00:21some of the first people in the world to hear Wu-Tang Clan's secret album, Once Upon a Time
00:27in Shaolin.
00:28I'm trying not to go in with expectations, but I'm very excited.
00:32This is what awaits them.
00:34Just one physical copy of the CD was created after its completion in 2013, with no digital
00:40versions.
00:41A 30-minute mix was played through specialised speakers.
00:45But it might not be the first time the public has been able to hear the album.
00:49Its owner, a digital art collective called Pleaser, has taken its former owner to court,
00:54alleging he made copies and had been playing it during live streaming sessions over the
00:59past month.
01:00The former owner is Martin Skreli, who was convicted of business fraud in 2021 and had
01:06his assets forfeited, including the Wu-Tang album, which was sold to Pleaser for $4 million.
01:13Pleaser alleges that by making copies and playing them online, Mr Skreli has devalued
01:19the album.
01:20But for fans in Hobart, it was all about the music and the experience.
01:25It was epic.
01:26Very good.
01:27Classic, 93 to 2000 Wu-Tang, nuts, silver rings, killed that.
01:32I mean, I don't know another song or album anywhere else in the world that holds that
01:36same value that this one does like that.
01:39Satisfied hip-hop fans, just happy to feel part of something bigger.