Method Man Explains Why Wu-Tang Clan’s ‘Once Upon a Time in Shaolin’ Is Still an ‘Uncomfortable Subject’ for Them

Once Upon a Time in Shaolin remains a sore spot for the Wu-Tang Clan.

In a new interview with Vanity Fair, Method Man opened up about the infamous album.

“I don’t know. I thought it was some circus spectacle. I never really spoke to RZA about it; it’s an uncomfortable subject to most of the guys, so we don’t really discuss it too much,” he shared.

He also explained how the group wasn’t privy to the album’s “process.”

“We were never told what it was,” he continued. “It was never supposed to be a Wu-Tang album. We were recording and being paid to do a certain amount of records by a guy whose name I don’t want to mention.”

Wu-Tang took six years to record Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.

As the rapper recalled, “He took all these verses—some of them were old verses—and put them altogether into a compilation of Wu-Tang songs and marketed it as a Wu-Tang album, and a single copy of a Wu-Tang album.”

In 2015, the sole copy was auctioned off for $2 million to Martin Shkreli.

“We all had a problem with it because that’s not how it was described to us,” Meth added.

Shkreli later forfeited the album to the U.S. government after being convicted of securities fraud, and PleasrDAO bought the project from the government in 2021.

More recently, PleasrDAO sued Shkreli, saying “he violated the sale agreement by keeping digital copies of the album and sharing the recordings online,” per Rolling Stone.

In 2015, it was discovered that the album’s stipulations were also a mystery to the iconic rap group’s members. In March of that year, XXL reported that the album wouldn’t be available to the public for 88 years, which elicited a negative reaction from Method Man.

“Fuck that album. I’m tired of this shit and I know everybody else is tired of it, too. Fuck that album, if that’s what they are doing. I haven’t heard anything like that, but if they’re doing crap like that, fuck that album. Straight up. I’m just keeping it 100. When music can’t be music and y’all turning it into something else, fuck that. Give it to the people, if they want to hear the shit, let them have it. Give it away free. I don’t give a fuck; that ain’t making nobody rich or poor. Give the fucking music out. Stop playing with the public, man.”

RZA quickly responded on X to clear up the misunderstanding that the public wouldn’t be able to hear it: “@xxl @methodman let us clarify for you. An 88-year “non-commercialization” clause means corporations can’t buy it & mass produce it for [sale].”