'World's rarest' million-dollar album on listening loan

A secretly recorded album by hip hop greats Wu-Tang Clan dubbed the world’s rarest has been loaned to a Tasmanian museum.

Only one copy of the 128-minute double album ‘Once Upon A Time In Shaolin’ exists on two CDs, which were pressed in 2014 after six years of clandestine recordings.

The 31-track work, which is enclosed in a hand-carved nickel-silver box, was stored in a vault in Morocco before being auctioned.

It changed hands several times before being bought by digital art collective Pleasr in 2021 for $US4 million ($A6 million).

Tasmania’s Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) on Tuesday announced the album would be on display from June 15-24 as part of its ‘Namedropping’ exhibit.

The gallery will also host ticketed free listening parties in which a curated 30-minute mix of the album will be played from a personalised Wu-Tang Clan PlayStation 1.

A legal agreement means the album cannot be commercially exploited until 2103, although it can be played at listening parties.

“Every once in a while, an object on this planet possesses mystical properties that transcend its material circumstances,” MONA director of curatorial affairs Jarrod Rawlins said.

“(It) is more than just an album, so when I was thinking about status, and what a transcendent ‘Namedrop’ could be, I knew I had to get it into this exhibition.”

Wu-Tang Clan formed in New York in 1992 and is considered one of the greatest hip-hop groups of all time.

The album’s master tracks were deleted and it cannot be streamed or downloaded.

MONA says it has only been heard by a handful of people around the world and it is the first loan to a museum since the original sale.

In a statement, Pleasr said it was honoured to partner with MONA to support Wu-Tang Clan’s vision.

“Ten years ago, the Wu-Tang Clan had a bold vision to make a single-copy album as a work of fine art,” Pleasr said.

“To ‘put it in an art gallery ... make music become a living piece like a Mona Lisa or a sceptre from Egypt.’.

“With this single work of art, the Wu-Tang Clan’s intention was to redefine the meaning of music ownership and value in a world of digital streaming and commodification of music.”

The group has said the album “encapsulates the Clan’s legendary dark funk and avant-garde sound and is produced in the original Wu-Tang style of the ‘90s”.

Tickets for the listening parties will be up for grabs at 10am on Thursday.

The exhibition also features original handwritten lyrics to David Bowie’s ‘Starman’, showing edits and spelling corrections.