But in this case, I don’t think living under a Half Dome-sized rock would be enough. And there is no way that it’s because people don’t have strong opinions about it. While Shkreli was certainly bound by those terms, it’s less clear if Pleasr was subjected to them when it purchased the album from prosecutors. The original 2015 deal contained a specific provision that, in the event the album was re-sold, the same kooky restrictions must be passed along to the new buyer.

That’s why we called it "Only..." Because it wasn’t for the whole world. Itwas only for people that could relate to that lifestyle at that time. Like Ghost’s neighborhood, of course you got the old school cats out there that really, n----s is knockout artists, but they smoke dust and all that shit.

The album was also created in protest of the devaluation of music as an artform in the digital age, RZA said in the interview. The defining production of RZA expertly brews sophistication with sparsity, matching the album’s gritty aesthetic. 36 Chambers is praised for its combination of various rhyme forms, with lyrics delving into science, street life, and zeal, enhanced by Kung-fu samples and a potent 1970s soul backdrop. It stands as a unique work whose aesthetic remains unparalleled.

There is probably too much of him on Forever, a sign of how much control he had, but the way he raps every line as if it could change your life is magnetic, even when it’s not as deep as he thinks. He’s so engaging that even when he parts the seas so he can monologue for a couple of minutes, it’s mesmerizing. "Yo this is true hip-hop you listenin’ to right here/In the pure form, this ain’t no R&B with a wack nigga takin the loop," he says on the intro to disc 2, so convincing that he probably could have made C.

In the meantime, tensions flared over who was in control of the wu tang name generator brand, mostly directed at their manager and RZA’s older brother Divine. The more popular members felt the money was being divided up unfairly, and not everyone was psyched about the affiliate crews like Killarmy that RZA was stamping with the Wu logo. These frustrations boiled over in frequent arguments and a diminishing trust in RZA’s iron-clad grip on the sound. In the summer of 1997, the Wu-Tang wutang clan name were in the midst of their mafia movie montage—you know, when life is sweet and it seems like it’s always going to be that way. That summer, the nine Staten Island goons went on tour with one of the premier rock bands on Earth, Rage Against the Machine, blowing cash and sipping champagne on airplanes. They got a $960,000 budget for the special effects-ladened music video for "Triumph," the famous, reckless, hookless posse cut.