No Sale: Wu-Tang Clan's "Once Upon A Time In Shaolin" Still Belongs To Martin Shkreli

Wu-Tang Clan’s enigmatic album Once Upon A Time In Shaolin — owned by infamous “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli — went up for auction on eBay last month. The two top contenders, Matt “M-Eighty” Markoff and Colorado resident Darby Welch, were (at various times) both confident they’d walk away with the rare, coveted album. But as of now, no sale has been finalized.

Markoff, a longtime Wu-Tang associate, believes Shkreli’s recent arrest put a halt on negotiations. He also questions the integrity of the auction.

“I think the ‘sale’ or Martin offering the album for sale was laced with fraudulent trolling intent from the get go,” Markoff tells HipHopDX. “From the moment I saw the album listed on eBay, I contacted him directly, provided him with my offer sheet and requested financial documents. You’re going to tell me my $1 million in cash you requested wasn’t enough to get the job done?

>> READ MORE on HIPHOPDX <<

Shkreli's Wu-Tang Album Is the Newest Target in Odd Virtual Coin Craze

It looks like the Game of Thrones token may not be the strangest initial coin offering of 2017, after all.

Behold Wu-Tang Coin, the digital token at the heart of a purported ICO whose sole purpose is to raise money to buy and publicly release the Wu-Tang Clan album that convicted fraudster Martin Shkreli once spent $2 million on.

The fundraising began today, according to Wu-Tang Coin’s Twitter account, which has 17 followers. Rare Music Ltd., the company behind the efforts, is seeking to raise $3 million to $4 million, according to a white paper listed on the internet. It has raised less than $1,000 so far.

Earlier this month, Shkreli reportedly sold the album -- “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” -- for just over $1 million on EBay, though it’s unclear if the sale went through.

[via BloombergTechnology]

A new Initial Coin Offering has put a cherry on top of the most frothy market of 2017. The organizers of Wu-Tang Coin, whose launch today was first spotted by Bloomberg, are proposing to raise $3 million to $4 million worth of cryptocurrency to buy the infamous Wu-Tang Clan album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin from disgraced pharmaceutical entrepreneur/convicted securities fraudster Martin Shkreli, and make it publicly available.

>> READ MORE <<

Now checkout www.wutangcoin.com

More Drama Surrounds Wu-Tang's $1 Million Album | ALL OUT SHOW

Big Big news on the Wu-Tang front. Martin Shkreli is selling Wu-Tang's Wu-Once Upon A Time In Shaolin for $1 million, half of what he spent to acquire it. Mathew "M-80" Markoff is attempting to purchase the never before heard project. He joins Jude and Justin in the studio.

Martin Shkreli's eBay Sale Of Wu-Tang Clan's "Once Upon A Time In Shaolin" Is Bogus

When Martin Shkreli got his hands on the one and only copy (supposedly) of Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon A Time In Shaolin in 2015, it not only infuriated loyal Wu-Tang fans but also left the future of the album uncertain.

Would anyone besides Shkreli and the people who crafted it get to hear it?

There was that “first, last and only” listening session in 2015 and the recent interview Shkreli did where he nonchalantly played the 31-track album for nearly two minutes in the background, but aside from that, most people don’t know what the album sounds like. 

Matt “M-Eighty” Markoff, a close Wu-Tang affiliate who has worked as an artist, A&R and executive alongside the Wu-Tang family for over 15 years, is attempting to change that. On Sunday (September 17), eBay closed the bidding for Shkreli’s rare artifact, which the infamous “Pharma Bro” had put up for auction earlier this month. It said the “winning bid”was $1,025,100.

>> READ MORE ON HIPHOPDX <<

Martin Shkreli Sells That Rare Wu-Tang CD for $1 Million + UPDATE!

Only a few days after the managers of rappers U-God and Method Man of Wu-Tang Clan publicly spoke out against the legitimacy of that rare Once Upon a Time in Shaolin double CD in the possession of defamed “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli, the now convicted felon has sold the artifact for $1,025,100. As indicated in the description, Shkreli was not attempting to make this sale because he was strapped for cash, but rather wanted to rid himself of the album he felt was becoming a burden.

According to Domingo Negris, manager of U-God, the project in question is not considered to be "an authorized Wu-Tang Clan album.”

James Ellis, Method Man’s manager doubled down on the claim, adding "When we did the verses, it was for a Cilvaringz album. How it became a Wu-Tang album from there? We have no knowledge of that."

Nonetheless, Martin still managed to get the CD off his hands for almost half of the $2 million price tag with he first acquired it.

UPDATE!

Martin Shkreli’s eBay sale of Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon a Time in Shaolin is evidently incomplete. According to Matt “M-Eighty” Markoff, whose tenure in the Hip Hop game is decades deep, Shkreli was unable to officially finalize the sale before being booked into a federal Brooklyn jail last week.

The good news? Once Markoff, who routinely works with Wu-Tang, is able to secure the album, he plans to share it with the rest of us.

“I was the second highest bidder at 1,025,000 and he did not make arrangements for the sale before being arrested again,” Markoff told HipHopDX. “If he has any release time before his ultimate conviction and sentencing, that is when he and I will be finalizing the purchase agreement off eBay.”

He added, “I will be releasing the album to the world at large. ”

As indicated by eBay’s website, the bidding for Once Upon A Time In Shaolin closed on September 15 and a bid of $1,025,100 was deemed “the winning bid.”

So far, Shkreli’s signature has not made it to the paperwork.

[via Hot New HipHop & HipHopDX]