Now Shkreli's a Wu-Tang 'clown'
Fraudster’s $2M album may be a fake
Pharma d’oh! Notorious fraudster Martin Shkreli may have been duped himself when he shelled out $2 million for the only copy of a so-called collector’s album by the Wu-Tang Clan, a new report says.
The double CD, titled “Once Upon A Time in Shaolin,” was actually made by “a little-known producer with a peripheral link to the storied rap group” from Staten Island, according to Bloomberg News, which talked to three artists and managers connected to the project.
“Pharma Bro” Shkreli famously bought the work, a sole copy, in 2015 — reportedly under the condition that it not be played commercially for 88 years.
The three men told Bloomberg that those who rapped for the album were not told they were recording for Wu-Tang and never authorized their work being used in the project.
They also dismiss the producer who put the project together, Tarik Azzougarh aka Cilvaringz, as a Wu-Tang carpetbagger who only recently joined the extended group.
The artists who participated were told that their recordings would be “for a Cilvaringz album,” said James Ellis, who reps core Wu-Tanger Method Man.
“How it became a Wu-Tang album from there? We have no knowledge of that,” Ellis told Bloomberg.
Domingo Neris, who reps charter Wu-Tang rapper U-God, said, “It’s not a Wu-Tang Clan album.
“We’re very detailed about the quality and how we put our best foot forward,” Neris said.
“We would never have authorized anyone to put together a project and call it a Wu-Tang Clan record without us ever looking at it, hearing it or being in the same room together.”
The trio are disgruntled over never having heard the album in its entirety to this day — and not knowing to what extent their work was used and if they should be compensated for it.
Bloomberg asked the now-jailed Shkreli for comment on whether he thought he had been conned into spending a fortune for a lessthan-genuine Wu-Tang album.
Shkreli e-mailed in response, “hahahahahahahahahahahaha.”
Azzougarh told Bloomberg, “the album and its concept were an evolutionary process that spanned six years, too complex to explain in a sound bite. All participating Wu-Tang artists were paid in advance.’’
Shkreli posted the album for auction on eBay two weeks ago. Bidding topped out this week at $1,006,600.