As previously reported, Wu-Tang Clan have announced a secret album called Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. Unlike a traditional commercial album release, however, only one copy will be sold.
The group's hope was that this marketing strategy would allow music to become reestablished as a form of highly praised and sought-after art, similar to a Monet or a Picasso. Like a piece of treasured art, it would also come with a multi-million dollar price tag. The sole copy would be toured through museums and galleries before being sold to the highest bidder. RZA claims that they've already received a $5 million bid.
Today, Forbes has shared a 51-second audio stream preview of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. According to Zack O'Malley Greenburg, who traveled to Marrakesh, Morocco to hear a sample of the album, the effort is "something of a departure from Wu-Tang's most rugged roots -- in the form of an appearance by what appears to be Cher" on a Ghostface Killah track but has not been confirmed.
Greenburg spoke to producer Tarik "Cilvaringz" Azzougarh about the album's sound.
"It's a conceptual record where you're trying to go back to '93-'97, that glorious time," Cilvaringz explains. "To get brothers into that mode again, as if they just came off the street, as if they were still out there trying to make a living and surviving, it's difficult. ... You're trying to get them into an aggressive mode and the beats are aggressive, and funny enough, it drew it out of them, the beats actually commanded the way they performed."
He added that 80 percent of the vocals had to be re-recorded because they lacked "the right energy or enough anger."
According to Cilvaringz, the group has received several offers for the album but are using a broker to sort through the legitimacy of potential buyers. He also says that many museums and universities are interested in hosting the record as it tours the country.
Watch a video of Greenburgs experience in Morocco as well as a snippet of music from the album (starting at the 9:00 mark) here. Let us know what you think in the comments section below!
