The musical Arlesian could soon be revealed to the ears of the whole world.
At least, that's what a group of New York-based NFT collectors would like to do, which announced on Wednesday that it had bought the only copy of an album by the Wu-Tang Clan rappers for $ 4 million.
Almost never released, this cryptic disc, entitled
Once Upon a Time in Shaolin
, has fascinated fans of the group for years, whose curiosity could, finally, be soon quenched.
To read also
Once Upon a time in Shaolin,
the album in a single copy of the Wu-Tang Clan, (re) sold
In a video uploaded on Wednesday, PleasrDAO, a group of NFT (“
non-fungible token
”)
collectors
, announced that they were behind the acquisition, in July, of the 31-track double album. Wu-Tang Clan, of which there is only one copy in the world.
Its purchase price?
$ 4 million, according to several American media whose articles were retweeted by PleasrDAO.
The auction of the album, this summer, was organized by the American justice to settle the sentence of Martin Shkreli, the provocative and hated pharmaceutical entrepreneur who had offered himself before his fall.
The unique copy of
Once Upon a Time in Shaolin
, from the Wu-Tang Clan, in the hands of one of the collectors of the PleasrDAO collective.
Youtube / PleasrDAO screenshot
No marketing before 2103
Well known within the community of NFT collectors, the PleasrDAO collective had in the past purchased digital works from the American whistleblower Edward Snowden or the Russian feminist punk group Pussy Riot.
The video uploaded and shared on PleasrDAO's social networks shows one of the group's leaders, Jamis Johnson, opening the precious silver box in which the album and its handwritten booklet are located, then uncorking the champagne while listening - all smile - a title, helmet on the head.
Read also Wu-Tang Clan, t-shirt and bat ... Canada and China are arguing against a background of coronavirus
The only copy of this 31-track double album would have been recorded between the end of the 2000s and the beginning of the 2010s by the Wu-Tang Clan band, hip-hop legends known for their texts on the harshness of the neighborhoods. poor people of New York, especially in Staten Island, and their samples inspired by martial arts films.
At the time, they wanted to denounce the commodification of music and protected the work, now seen by some as a precursor of NFT, with a clause prohibiting the sale of the album before 88 years, i.e. 2103.
On its site, PleasrDAO says, however, that it wants to share this highly coveted album a little earlier than expected.
“Although we are bound by the legal agreement that accompanies this work of art and we may not be able to duplicate and share the music in digital form, we are convinced that there are ways to share this musical masterpiece with the whole world ”
, writes the collective. If the group's statement does not specify what the new owners of
Once Upon a Time in Shaolin
have in mind, collectors would however consider a
"next chapter"
related to
"Web 3.0". "Just like our blockchain, Wu Tang is eternal"
, epilogue PleasrDAO.
The infinite patience of the fans too, it seems.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/MXTXEH6DHZAIPOPMLXDFGPSG4Y.jpg)
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/YOFFNRYVHNGMDF6W5JWCJXYV5I.jpg)
