Wu-Tang Clan's 'Once Upon A Time In Shaolin' Album Won't Be Out For 88 Years

We've heard a lot of talk about  what the Wu-Tang Clan wanted to do about their one-of-a-kind Once A Upon A Time in Shaolin album, including that they plan to sell one single copy of the LP to the highest bidder on the auction site Paddle8.

But according to Wu-Tang producer Civaringz, the new owner won't really own the album until 88 years after the purchase.

He tells Forbes, "After 88 years the copyright, which includes public and commercial rights, automatically transfers to the owner of the work. "However, it will still be his or her choice at that [point] to release it or not release it."

If you're thinking that 88 years seems like a random length of time, it's not. RZA is huge on symbolism. Eight is a powerful digit that represents the number of Wu-Tang members, the infinity symbol (on its side) and the name of the auction house that'll be selling the album (Paddle8.) If you add up 2015 together, you get, that's right, an eight.

While it is cool to see RZA and the Wu do something creative with their creation, it is disappointing that most of us won't hear it. The only way to bypass the 88 years rule is if the buyer releases it for free, a loophole that RZA has already acknowledged. But since he expects the album to get millions in the auction, he doesn't believe the new owner will want to give it out for free.

Now whether it does fetch such a sum is another story, and one we'll be following closely.

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