RZA On Selling ‘Once Upon A Time In Shaolin’ To Martin Shkreli

The With All Due Respect episode featuring RZA is scheduled to air January 6 at 5pm on Bloomberg Television.

RZA said he had no hard feelings toward Shkreli, the entrepreneur who rose to worldwide infamy earlier this year for jacking up the cost of a life-saving AIDS pill and was later charged with unrelated securities fraud, and doesn’t regret selling to such a divisive figure.

According to RZA, Shkreli expressed to him that he was a big fan of Wu-Tang prior to buying Once Upon A Time.

RZA also revealed Shkreli does have the power to share the songs on the secret project, despite reports the album was banned from commercial use for 88 years.

The Wu-Tang Clan members said they agreed to the sale long before Shkreli’s controversial price-gouging became public.

Still, RZA said that he hoped Shkreli would do something “really cool” with the album, such as publicly release it or take it on tour through museums. “Art – the handsome thing about art, from my standpoint, is that it has no discrimination”. “He did mention his love of hip-hop, and I mentioned to him the importance of what I think this record is to the legacy of hip-hop”.

In fact, the album, entitled Once Upon A Time In Shaolin, that Shkreli purchased for $2 million, is the only copy in existence. “He bought the album, he can do what he wants”, he said.

RZA laughed off Shkreli’s diss. Provided that the album doesn’t get seized by the feds, Shkreli, could do something “philanthropic” with the album so that other people can hear it, said RZA.

I can never discriminate. If the most greatest man in the world was the man who wanted it, it would be his objective.

“I could never discriminate who appreciates art”, RZA says.