Jay Peters is a senior reporter covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme.

The Wu-Tang Clan album Once Upon A Time in Shaolin has largely remained inaccessible for public listening, but two excerpts from the record are now available thanks to the podcast Pablo Torre Finds Out, which released a full episode focused on this exclusive project.

Once Upon A Time in Shaolin carries an extensive history that the podcast examines in depth. Disgraced pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli purchased the sole copy of the album at auction in 2015, with the condition that it cannot be commercially released until 2103. After Shkreli forfeited the album to the US government, it was sold in 2021 to the crypto art collective PleasrDAO, which has permitted playback at special exhibitions.

Working with PleasrDAO, Pablo Torre Finds Out hosted a listening party where the album was played for Wu-Tang Clan member Method Man, who heard it for the first time. The podcast captured the event along with Method Man's reactions, and two snippets from the album can be heard at the 32:30 and 39:02 marks during the episode.

Method Man's review? "I do not hate this album."

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Jay Peters