Method Man recently got to hear Once Upon A Time In Shaolin for the first time, the mythical one-of-one Wu-Tang Clan album produced by Cilvaringz. The longtime fan and now Wu member is the subject of the new Netflix documentary The Disciple: A Wu-Tang Fable, which RZA spoke about in an interview with PEOPLE. The hip-hop legend admitted to feeling panic and later acceptance when infamous "pharma bro" Martin Shkreli bought Shaolin in 2015.
For those unaware, Shkreli raised the price of the pivotal anti-parasitic medication Daraprim by over 5,000 percent, a controversy that immediately sullied his ownership of Once Upon A Time In Shaolin. Bobby Digital told PEOPLE he's accepted the businessman's place in the rap group's history, despite having his reservations.
"You got to accept that," he remarked. "Even though it’s negative, you got to accept that. Because you know what? Look, maybe there was something negative in it anyway... The deal was done with Martin before he was identified as the evilest man in America. So the crazy thing about it for me was when I met Martin, his story to me was he was an Albanian immigrant. I think his father was a janitor... I’m telling my wife, I’m like, ‘Yo, wait, that’s that motherf***er that’s buying the album.' I panicked. And I said, ‘Can we get out of it?’ And it was like, ‘No, you signed the contract already.’"
Once Upon A Time In Shaolin
Also, RZA said the deal was done before these business practices became a public firestorm, admitting he was initially "proud" to work with someone who made their own fortune. He said Shkreli's "Lex Luthor-type s**t" doesn't overshadow the more significant story behind Wu-Tang Clan's Once Upon A Time In Shaolin. That, of course, is Cilvaringz's rise and the creative mission they followed concerning the value of art and ownership.
"It’s not in the documentary, but my mother pushed him on me,” RZA expressed. “She’s like, ‘No, give this kid a chance.’ And I took heed to her, of course."
Martin Shkreli had to give up Shaolin after his conviction on securities fraud, passing the album to the United States Department of Justice and later to the company pleasrDAO. They have engaged in a few initiatives to partially and slowly release the album. But its actual commercial release will only happen as soon as 2103.
