As music sales have dwindled over the years, artists have increasingly turned to making special editions of their albums to entice hardcore fans to spend more hard-earned cash — but there's never been an album quite like what Wu-Tang Clan is cooking up. In addition to releasing a 20th anniversary album this summer called A Better Tomorrow, the hip-hop collective also recorded a double album in secret over the last two years — and is only releasing one single copy of it.
As reported by Forbes, Once Upon A Time In Shaolin will be encased in a silver and nickel box crafted by British-Moroccan artist Yahya and will probably sell for millions of dollars. However, before it is sold, the one-of-a-kind album will tour the world as many other famous pieces of art do, with stops at museums, galleries, and potentially music festivals. Fans will be charged a cost to attend a "listening event," where they'll get a chance to hear the album on headphones after being carefully screened for recording materials.
"We're about to put out a piece of art like nobody else has done in the history of [modern] music," says Wu-Tang Clan member Robert "RZA" Diggs. "We're making a single-sale collector's item. This is like somebody having the scepter of an Egyptian king."
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