The public now has a rare chance to experience the world’s rarest album. The Wu-Tang Clan’s “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,” of which only one two-CD copy exists, is currently on loan to the Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) in Tasmania, Australia. Next month, over a span of 10 days, the museum will host intimate listening parties where visitors can enjoy a “curated, 30-minute sample of the album,” according to the BBC.
This hip hop album, recorded in secret from 2006 to 2013, was created to “redefine the meaning of music ownership and value in a world of digital streaming and commodification of music,” says the digital art collective Pleasr, which bought the album for a reported $4 million in 2021, per the Guardian. Prior to its initial sale in 2015, a 13-minute section of the album was heard by some potential buyers and members of the media.