Martin Shkreli Threatens RZA Over Wu-Tang Clan Album Purchase Drama, Brags His Own Rap Is Like Shakespeare
Martin Shkreli, affectionately known across the internet as “that pharma bro,” angered hip-hop fans and RZA himself when he purchased Wu-Tang Clan’s album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, surreptitiously, for $2 million.
Yet unlike his severely marked-up drug acquisitions, Martin does not have any intentions of making money off the Wu-Tang Clan record. In fact, in a recent interview with Hip-Hop DX, Shkreli made clear that the subsequent blowout over the album might push him to do something even more callous — make it disappear altogether.
“I’ll f***ing snap the CD on f***ing TV and not even listen to it if that’s what he f***ing wants.”
While Martin might not seem imposing on appearances, he advises RZA to remember just who he’s dealing with. In the Q&A, Shkreli repeatedly referred to his hot temper. Martin said that irritability was partially due to his Albanian heritage, also saying that he was richest man from the ethnic group to ever walk the earth.
As an example of how seriously Wu-Tang Clan should take Shkreli, he brought up aggressive stances he had taken against a former employee — including putting security detail on the man’s four children and promising to make the whole family “homeless.”
“I’m definitely the real f***ing deal. This is not a f***ing act. I threatened that f***ing guy and his f***ing kids because he f***ing took $3 million from me… I had two guys parked outside of his house for six months watching his every f***ing move. I can get down. I don’t think RZA knows that. I think he thinks I’m some powder puff white guy CEO that’s got too much money… I’d encourage him to shut the f**k up before he goes a little too far. We’ll see what happens.”
Naturally, longtime fans of the hip-hop supergroup are furious that Martin holds the key to the new set of tunes. Wu-Tang Clan has only released a scant seven albums over the 23 years since Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) came out in 1993. Their newest effort was created with the idea of making it for a single collector. RZA described the precious metal box that the disc came in as “like the scepter of an Egyptian king,” previously reported Inquisitr.
Wu-Tang Clan has defended their decision to sell the album to Shkreli by noting that the billionaire had not yet become a household name for his severely marked-up AIDS drug scandal when they signed over the rights to Shaolin. Now that they are aware of who Martin is, several members have expressed their regret. One viral Twitter joke posting a fake contract that stipulated that Wu-Tang Clan “and/or actor Bill Murray” may attempt to heist the album back even got a reply from RZA.
Forget the $2M, this is easily the most interesting part of the whole deal between Wu-Tang and Martin Shkreli. pic.twitter.com/5nSshXhjnJ
— Rob Wesley (@eastwes) December 9, 2015
We’re really getting the urge to call Bill Murray. — RZA! (@RZA) December 11, 2015
Of course, one may wonder why Shkreli was so eager to be the exclusive of owner of Wu-Tang Clan album anyway. As it turns out, Martin is a huge fan of hip-hop music and has inspirations of his own to create rap music and share it with the public. In fact, he even compared his own style to GZA and, it appears, Shakespeare.
“I told RZA and I told Bloomberg that Shakespeare is my s**t. Binding couplets is no f***ing different than [GZA]. GZA is literally a genius. Not everyone loves his flow. I can do something like that, I guarantee it. I’ve reached out to a few producers and a few feature artists just to test the waters. I would never put anything out unless it was just golden. I don’t need to embarrass myself. I’m doing fine in pharma.”
If you’re eager for Martin Shkreli to hand over the Wu-Tang Clan album, you might not want to hold your breath; but if you’re a Bobby Shmurda fan, there’s some good news: he plans to post bail for the jailed artist.
[Image via Kevin Winter/Getty Images for PETA]
