Long Island artist sues Wu-Tang Clan, Martin Shkreli over rap group’s secret album ‘Once Upon a Time in Shaolin’
BY JASON SILVERSTEIN NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Updated: Tuesday, February 9, 2016, 12:22 PM
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The one and only copy of Wu-Tang Clan's album "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin" includes a leather-bound lyric book, featuring stolen sketches by Jason Koza, the suit says.
A Long Island artist brought the legal ruckus to Wu-Tang Clan and “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli Tuesday, filing a federal lawsuit for alleged copyright infringement connected to the rap group’s top-secret album, “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.”
The suit says Wu-Tang Clan stole sketches of its rappers from illustrator Jason Koza, who put his works on a fan blog two years ago. The works appeared without permission in the leather-bound lyric booklet for the only copy of “Shaolin,” which sold in a private auction last year, the suit says.
Reviled businessman Shkreli bought “Shaolin” for $2 million, and has refused to release its tunes to the public.
The suit asks for unspecified damages. If Koza wins, the lyric book could be impounded or destroyed.
Koza “is obviously flattered that (Wu-Tang) loved his work so much,” his attorney Peter Scoolidge told the Daily News.
“But that doesn’t change the fact that he didn’t give them permission.”
Koza, a Wu lover in Copiague, drew individual portraits of the group’s original nine members in his free time and sent them to Wu-Tang Clan Disciples, a blog filled with fan art, the suit says. He also posted the portraits on his Instagram page in 2014.
Koza never expected his sketches to appear anywhere else, according to papers filed in Manhattan Federal Court.
But the drawings somehow surfaced in the booklet for “Shaolin,” a double album recorded over several years and once kept inside a vault in Morocco.
The suit says Koza didn’t know his work was there until Vice published a story about Shkreli in January, including photos of the booklet. The story gave Koza, and the rest of the world, the first thorough look at the covert album’s elaborate packaging.
Koza did not file for copyright on his drawings until this month, court records show.
The illustrator has no idea how the group found its way to his fan art, Scoolidge said.
“I suspect it’s because he did nine consistent portraits of the rappers who recorded ‘36 Chambers,’” he said, referencing the group’s famous first album.
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"Shaolin" owner Martin Shkreli has been feuding with several Wu-Tang Clan members, including Ghostface Killah, who released a 12-minute Shkreli diss video (right) Tuesday.
“To have nine consistent portraits makes it seem like someone did them for the purpose of the album. Also, they’re high quality.”
The suit names Shkreli and Wu-Tang’s de facto leader RZA as defendants, as well as the auction site Paddle8 and Cilvaringz, an unofficial Wu member who oversaw “Shaolin.”
Cilvaringz abruptly emailed Koza in April 2014, saying he had a question related to “the one copy album RZA and I are doing,” court records show.
Koza agreed to talk, but never heard from Cilvaringz again until Jan. 31 — days after Vice published its Shkreli story, and Koza first accused the group of infringement.
“I see we actually have been in touch before, but never completed,” Cilvaringz wrote, according to the suit.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
"Pharma bro" Martin Shkreli bought the album last year for $2 million in a private auction.
“I thought we had. Let me know if you want to skype discussing the use of your drawings. Thanks bro.”
The two have still never spoken, Scoolidge said.
Reps for Wu-Tang, Shkreli and Paddle8 did not return requests for comment.
Shkreli has been beefing with Wu-Tang rappers ever since the sale, especially Ghostface Killah, one of the group’s most famous MCs.
Ghostface trashed Shkreli in a 12-minute video Tuesday, calling him “a fake ass super villain,” Pee-Wee Shkreli” and “the man with the 12-year-old body.”
Shkreli, who infamously jacked the price of an AIDS pills by 5,000%, is already battling charges of an alleged Ponzi scheme in a former company.
Authorities have alluded to the fraud case possibly lead to "Shaolin" getting seized. Shkreli told Vice he has considered destroying the discs.
jsilverstein@nydailynews.com
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