Wu-Tang’s RZA Reveals Heart-to-Heart He Had With ‘Supervillain’ Martin Shkreli

Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA revealed the heart-to-heart discussion he had with controversial pharmaceuticals entrepreneur Martin Shkreli after Shkreli purchased the only copy of Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon a Time in Shaolin in 2015 for an alleged $2 million, during an appearance on Joe Rogan’s show The Joe Rogan Experience this week.

“The reality of it is it’s now sitting in a temperature control room in the Department of Justice,” declared RZA, referencing Shkreli’s seven-year prison sentence and seizure of assets in 2018. “He’s incarcerated right now, so I think a lot of his assets have been seized by the government, including that album.”

“I did have a conversation with the gentleman… I said listen yo, because he had a lot of bad things going on for him, I said yo, if I was you I would take this chance to do philanthropy and I would give this away to the public,” RZA claimed. “If I was him, based on how much he had taken from the public.”

Comedian Donnell Rawlings, who also appeared on the show, noted, “He wasn’t a nice person. He didn’t want to give the impression he was a nice person. He wanted to be, ‘I don’t give a fuck.’ He was having too much fun, son.”

RZA added, “He didn’t mind being a supervillain, let’s put it that way. More of a Lex Luthor.”

After Rogan said Shkreli tried to appear on the show, RZA replied, “Ah that would have been interesting,” before delving further into the advice he gave to Shkreli.

“I’m the type of person… I’m always gonna try to say some advice in a positive form. That’s just my personality,” RZA explained. “I’m like listen bro, they’re talking shit about you in the world, it don’t look good for you, Wu-Tang is good. If I was you, I’d take this opportunity to do something good.”