Music is art. And in one simple, yet brilliant, move, The Wu Tang Clan are planning to change how we perceive it forever. The Wu-Tang Clan’s double-album the “Wu – Once Upon A Time In Shaolin” has been recorded in secret over the past few years and in an astonishing break from anything that has gone before, the iconic hip-hop collective will make and sell just one copy of the album.
Wu-Tang’s aim is to use the album as a platform for the reconsideration of music as art. They hope to create a shift in the music industry while restoring music to a visual art form.
“We’re about to put out a piece of art like nobody else has done in the history of music. We’re making a single-sale collector’s item. This is like somebody having the scepter of an Egyptian king,” Robert “RZA” Diggs said in an interview with Forbes.
He believes music does not receive the same treatment as art in the sense of the value of what it is. “Especially nowadays when it’s been devalued and diminished to almost the point that it has to be given away for free,” he said.
The one of a kind album will be sealed in an engraved silver-and-nickel box which was handcrafted over three months by British-Moroccan artist Yahya. Yahya’s work has previously been commissioned by royal families and business leaders around the world.
“The plan is to first take Once Upon A Time In Shaolin on a tour through museums, galleries, festivals and the like. Just like a high-profile exhibit at a major institution, there will be a cost to attend likely in the $30-$50 range”, the albums producer Tarik “Cilvaringz” Azzougarh said.
Visitors will go through strict security to ensure that recording devices aren’t smuggled in.As an extra precaution, they will have to listen to the 128-minute album’s 31 songs on headphones provided by the venue. “One leak of this thing nullifies the entire concept,” he said.
The one-of-a-kind launch will be a separate endeavor from the group’s 20th anniversary album “A Better Tomorrow” which is set for a standard commercial release this summer.
