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Drug mogul reveals Wu-Tang music to celebrate Trump

By AFP

10 November 2016   |   5:54 am

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Donald Trump's shock election victory has an unexpected beneficiary -- curious fans of hip-hop greats the Wu-Tang Clan.

Pharmaceutical mogul Martin Shkreli promised in October 2016 to release Wu-Tang Clan’s “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” for free if now US President-elect Donald Trump won PHOTO: Drew Angerer Getty/AFP/File

Donald Trump’s shock election victory has an unexpected beneficiary — curious fans of hip-hop greats the Wu-Tang Clan.

Martin Shkreli, the brash pharmaceutical mogul who won wide opprobrium for massively hiking the price of a drug for HIV patients, made good — partially — on a promise to air his unique copy of a Wu-Tang Clan album if Trump won Tuesday’s election.

Shkreli had bought “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,” of which the New York rap ensemble made only one record, for $2 million. He promised last month to release the album and other artists’ unreleased music for free if Trump won, then considered a longshot by pollsters.

The 33-year-old entrepreneur early Wednesday posted on Periscope videos of himself gloating about Trump’s victory as he walked into his Manhattan apartment and then played parts of the first two tracks of “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.”

The album, in line with the Wu-Tang Clan’s work, opens with a dramatic introduction driven by strings, which Shkreli played with relish as he drank a can of Cherry Coke.

Shkreli indicated that he could not play more for the moment. While he did not explain the reason, he has had a rocky relationship with the Wu-Tang Clan which said the sale was completed before Shkreli’s 5,000-percent rise in the price of the drug Daraprim last year.

Shkreli, who is free as he faces allegations of securities fraud, also claimed on Twitter to have unreleased music by other top artists — The Beatles, Radiohead, The Smiths, Elliott Smith, Jimi Hendrix, The Ramones and slain rap legend Tupac Shakur.

The businessman voiced hatred for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton who had sharply criticized him over the drug price hike, although Trump had also voiced concern about the move.

Shkreli sat in front of an amplifier bearing a sticker of Clinton’s leftist primary rival Bernie Sanders, who had rejected a donation from the entrepreneur.