How a Dutch-Moroccan Producer Made the Wu-Tang Clan’s $4 Million Album

Four million dollars for an album almost nobody has heard. In 2021, a collective of collectors paid that amount to acquire Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, a Wu-Tang Clan record of which only one copy exists. Behind this extraordinary project is the son of Moroccan immigrants, born in Tilburg, the Netherlands: Tarik Azzougarh, known in the rap world as Cilvaringz. His journey is at the heart of The Disciple: A Wu-Tang Fable, a documentary coming to Netflix on Friday, October 16.

The story begins in the 1990s. As a teenager, Tarik is fascinated by the Wu-Tang Clan, the New York collective revolutionizing hip-hop. At a concert in Amsterdam in 1997, he manages to get onstage and freestyle in front of Ol’ Dirty Bastard. His performance opens the door to the group.

Two years later, he becomes the first foreign artist to sign with the Wu-Tang label. He joins his idols on tour, opens their shows and works with RZA, the collective’s musical mastermind. The young man who listened to their records in his bedroom now finds himself taking part in creating them.

But Cilvaringz does not want to simply produce another album. As digital platforms are transforming music consumption, he comes up with a radical idea: to record a record that can be bought by only one person. A collector’s item comparable to a work of art, rather than a product intended to be reproduced millions of times.

An album kept secret in Morocco, then sold for millions

It takes six years of work to bring Once Upon a Time in Shaolin to life. Recording sessions take place in several countries. Tarik coordinates contributions from Wu-Tang Clan members and unexpected guests such as singer Cher. In all, 31 tracks are gathered in an ornate silver case.

Morocco holds a special place in this story. Some of the production work is done there, and the album’s sole copy is kept in Casablanca for a time. Its case was designed by Moroccan artist Yahya Rouach.

In 2015, the record is sold for a reported sum of nearly two million dollars. Its buyer is Martin Shkreli, an American businessman who would become notorious for dramatically raising the price of a drug.

Later convicted of financial fraud, Shkreli loses the album, which is seized by the US justice system. In 2021, the collective PleasrDAO buys it for four million dollars. The record’s value has doubled in a few years, while a contractual clause bars its commercial use until 2103.

This story could have remained a curiosity of the music industry. But it caught the attention of Joanna Natasegara, an award-winning British director. And they met in Morocco.

In an interview published on October 14 by the Sundance Film Festival, the filmmaker says she ran into Tarik by chance while vacationing in the Kingdom. She knew about the mysterious album but knew nothing about the role played by the Dutch-Moroccan producer. His story immediately convinced her that there was a film to be made.

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The documentary, which premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival, also looks back at the controversy sparked by the project. Some Wu-Tang Clan members were unhappy to see their work commercialized in this way, while fans were long denied the chance to hear the album.

RZA, one of the group’s founders and an executive producer of the film, now praises Cilvaringz’s journey. In the official presentation published by Netflix on October 12, he notes how rare it is for a fan to join their idols and then leave a lasting mark on their story. Joanna Natasegara’s documentary tells precisely how this young man from Tilburg managed to make that unlikely journey.