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RZA is bringing the wildest Wu-Tang story to Netflix, and it’s all about the album that broke the internet before the internet could even handle it.
Netflix just grabbed the rights to “The Disciple: A Wu-Tang Fable,” the documentary that tells the full saga of how a Dutch-Moroccan producer named Cilvaringz worked his way into the Wu-Tang Clan’s inner circle and went on to create one of the most controversial artifacts in music history.
Director Joanna Natasegara, an Oscar winner making her feature directorial debut, spent five years on this project, and it’s dropping on Netflix October 16.
The film centers on the making of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, a 31-track album with only one physical copy in the world.
Recorded over six years and pressed in 2014, the album was auctioned off in 2015 for $2 million, making it the most expensive musical work ever sold.
According to the documentary’s synopsis, “It’s scarcity is a form of protest, and an argument that music still holds intrinsic worth as art in a digital age. The result is one of the most controversial artifacts of our time that sparked ongoing conversations about technology, creation and ownership.”
The album’s journey has been absolutely chaotic.
Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli bought it in 2015. After Shkreli’s 2018 conviction for securities fraud, the federal government seized the album as part of his asset forfeiture.
In July 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice sold it to cover his debts, and it ended up with PleasrDAO, a crypto collective that paid $4 million for the privilege.
Shkreli later livestreamed the album anyway, triggering a lawsuit from the current owners.
According to Variety, the RZA serves as an executive producer and contributor to the film, which also features appearances from Cilvaringz, Moongod Allah, and DJ Sueside.
The documentary premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival in January before Netflix acquired the rights.
