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Wu-Tang fans raising money on Kickstarter to buy one-off album

By | Published on Thursday 24 April 2014

Once Upon A Time In Shaolin

Fans of Wu-Tang Clan “the world over” have clubbed together to raise enough money to buy the rap troupe’s new album, ‘Once Upon A Time In Shaolin’. As previously reported, the group are pressing just one copy of the record, which they’ll tour around art galleries before selling it off to the highest bidder.

Wu-Tang fans Russell Meyer and Calvin Okoth-Obbo have set up a Kickstarter page to raise at least $5 million – enough to match what producer RZA has previously said was the highest current bid. The whole thing appears to contravene several of Kickstarter’s rules, but it’s up there and has pulled in almost 600 backers, offering over $14,000 so far.

The organisers explain their reasoning for wanting to buy the record thus: “The risk is some Saudi oil baron’s kid spending his dad’s money to collect a trophy and then he’ll keep the album to himself and fans the world over will suffer”.

Of course, another risk is that this pair suddenly find themselves with $5 million and fuck off to an island somewhere. Though they assure everyone that backers should have no such worries.

They continue: “If for some reason we are unable to purchase the album to distribute it to all fans or we are outbid, there will be a vote to either refund all money to backers or use the money to fund a Wu-Tang related project such as a free concert for backers. The founder of this group will not profit by even a single penny of backers’ contributions, nor will a cent be spent until the auction date when the entirety of funds raised will be bid in an attempt to win the album”.

The minimum you can donate to the Kickstarter campaign is $1, so maybe it’s worth the risk. Or maybe that’s what they want you to think. As for what happens to the lone copy of the album, Okoth-Obbo joked in an interview with DNAinfo that they “could rock-paper-scissors to see who gets to hold it”, but they have since clarified that they’ll donate it to a museum.

I’m not sure which museum would take it. Maybe they could raise money on Kickstarter set up a Wu-Tang museum. Maybe they should have done that in the first place – it would at least not have made a mockery of Kickstarter’s terms and conditions.



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