In October 2026, an album by the American hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan was in the news again. It is Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, an album that exists as a single set in the whole world.
Netflix released The Disciple, a documentary following Cilvaringz, the producer behind the album. Around the same time, group member Method Man heard the album for the first time on a podcast, and was reported to call it a valid piece of art.
An album that exists as one set
The album was made in secret over about six years. There is one set of two CDs in the world. It is housed in a silver box, with liner notes bound in leather. The master files were deleted.
It was put up for auction in 2015 plus sold for 2 million dollars. Guinness World Records certified it as the most valuable album in the world. Under the agreements attached to it, it cannot be released commercially until 2103.
In 2024, its first official exhibition was held at MONA, a museum in Tasmania, Australia. Visitors signed a pledge not to record anything, then listened to a 30-minute mix.
Why make only one?
Cilvaringz took inspiration from the way patrons supported musicians in the Renaissance, and set out to make the album an object of art. He also felt that, as streaming plus illegal copies spread, the value of music itself was being treated lightly.
What changes when a work becomes one of a kind?
Music can usually be heard anytime, anywhere, as many times as you like. Once it existed as a single set, listening turned into something you meet only by going to a certain place, following certain rules. There is an owner, there are exhibitions, there are memories held by those who heard it. Stories begin to gather around the work, one by one.
When there are many copies of something, people use it. When there is only one, people face it. I think making something one of a kind changes the relationship between a work plus the people around it.
An original painting, one of a kind
What I deliver is not a print, but an original painting. Order art is a one-of-a-kind work, painted for one person after listening to their story.
That painting lives within its owner's daily life, as something they face every day. The same painting exists nowhere else. The same is true of BUSINESS ART hung in a company.
Mermaid nao's order art is a one-of-a-kind original painting, born from a conversation with you. Each piece is delivered framed.
[References]
Billboard: Method Man Finally Hears Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon a Time in Shaolin for the First Time: Here’s How He Reacted
Complex: Method Man Reacts to Hearing Wu-Tang Clan's Once Upon a Time in Shaolin for First Time
The Movie Blog: The Disciple: A Wu-Tang Fable Trailer Reveals the Story of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin
Wikipedia: Once Upon a Time in Shaolin
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