A very sharp-looking RZA recently sat down with Bloomberg Business to share his feelings about Martin Shkreli buying Wu-Tang’s ultra rare record, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. Suffice it to say, he doesn’t really give a shit who bought it. It’s art.
Of course, it’s very expensive art. Wu-Tang sold Shkreli the album—of which only one copy will ever be made—for an astounding $2 million. Since the sale, Shkreli’s been identified as a price-gouging pharmaceutical executive who preys on sick people and has been arrested for fraud. But RZA’s philosophical outlook on Shkreli buying the album and not even listening to it is rather charming:
I can never discriminate. If the greatest man in the world is the one who wanted to possess it, it would’ve been his objective. If my enemy came to an auction and was like, ‘Yo, I want that picture of RZA just to throw darts at it.’ It’s being auctioned. That’s something I could never ever, at this age in my life… discriminate who appreciates art.
This is after the Bloomberg reporter pointed out that Shkreli has called RZA an “arrogant” guy who “acts like his shit doesn’t stink.” RZA’s reaction to that? “That’s a little hostile.”
But so what. The money is better off in the hands of RZA and the rest of Wu-Tang Clan regardless. As for the record itself, we can only hope Bill Murray will steal it back.
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