Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Wednesday 21 March 2018

After Shkreli conviction, what will happen to Wu-Tang album?

By MESFIN FEKADU I don't think is a positive," he show respect for art," he
NEW YORK (AP) — Two un- said in an interview with The added, saying he didn't
released, collectible rap Associated Press. purchase the album as an
albums may go up for auc- Gold called the rollout of investment. "Music means
tion following the criminal Wu-Tang's album "brilliant" more to me than anything."
conviction of the albums' and said "there's never Shkreli became the face
owner, pharmaceutical been anything like this." But of pharmaceutical indus-
company investor Martin he added, "These (albums) try evil in 2015 when he in-
Shkreli. are problematic to sell." creased by 5,000 percent
Shkreli was sentenced to "If there are cars or boats the price of Daraprim, a
seven years in prison for or brokerage accounts, all previously cheap drug
securities fraud on Friday. of that stuff is going to be used to treat toxoplasmo-
He owns an unreleased a lot simpler to quantify. sis, a parasitic infection that
Wu-Tang Clan album and There are a lot of questions can be fatal to people with
claims to own an unre- around these albums and the AIDS virus or other im-
leased Lil Wayne album. what you can and can't do mune system disorders.
Both could be auctioned with them," he said. He also claims he owns Lil
by the government since In this Aug. 4, 2017 file photo, Martin Shkreli talks with reporters Shkreli's attorney, Ben Braf- Wayne's highly anticipated
Shkreli has to forfeit more after leaving federal court in New York. man, said he had no com- "Tha Carter V." The rapper's
than $7.3 million in a bro- ment on the albums. "Tha Carter III" sold more
kerage account and per- 174-page book wrapped in which is still subject to ap- Shkreli grew up in Brooklyn than 1 million copies in its
sonal assets. leather— to be viewed as peal. and said rock music was debut week in 2008, and
The 34-year-old entrepre- a piece of contemporary Along with the Wu-Tang his preference as a kid, not helped launch Lil Wayne to
neur known as "Pharma art Clan album, the govern- rap. superstar status. It featured
Bro" boasted that he paid Prosecutors said the forfei- ment has listed a Picasso "I told RZA to his face, 'I'm multiple rap and pop hits,
$2 million in 2015 for "Once ture order requires Shkreli painting and Lil Wayne's not your biggest fan,'" he from "A Milli" to "Lollipop,"
Upon a Time in Shaolin," to say if he's still in posses- "Tha Carter V" as substitute told the popular New York made the rapper the most
the 31-track double album sion of the album — or has assets for Shkreli. In Sep- radio show "The Breakfast nominated act at the 2009
the Wu-Tang Clan spent proceeds from a sale of it tember 2017, Shkreli put the Club" in 2016. "I can't name Grammys (he won four
six years creating. Shkreli — by Thursday. Until then, Wu-Tang Clan album up for every track on every affili- awards) and helped solidi-
won an auction for the he "shall not, directly or in- sale on eBay. It's unknown if ated Wu album. That's not fy his stance as one of hip-
sole copy of the album in directly, transfer, assign, he sold it. me." hop's elite performers.
2015. Group member RZA license, waste, pledge, en- Jeff Gold, a longtime re- He said he was introduced "Tha Carter IV" sold 964,000
said he wanted the album cumber, hypothecate, dis- cord executive and owner to Wu-Tang's music while in albums in its first week,
— which was packaged in tribute, dissipate, dilute or of Recordmecca, a music summer school, and he be- adding anticipation to
a hand-crafted silver and remove" it from the court's collectibles and memora- came a fan. He said when "Tha Carter V," an album Lil
nickel case and includes a jurisdiction, reads the order, bilia store, said the value he learned about the rare Wayne had been record-
of the albums have de- Wu-Tang album, he had to ing for years.
creased since being in have it. In 2015, Lil Wayne sued
Shkreli's hands. "There's a lot of things rich Cash Money Records for
"Martin is not viewed by the dudes buy just ... to show $51 million after claiming
general public in a neces- off," he told "The Breakfast that it stiffed him for $8 mil-
sarily positive way, so his as- Club." lion for creating "Tha Carter
sociation with (the albums) "The point is I wanted to V."q

'The Crown' producers say

sorry to stars after pay dispute

paid less than her male co-
star. A producer disclosed
last week that Foy, who
starred as Britain's Queen
Elizabeth II, was paid less
than Smith, who played
Prince Philip, because
Smith was better known.
The gender pay gap has
become a big issue in Hol-
lywood after revelations
that many female stars
were paid less than their
male counterparts.
In this Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017 file photo, actors Claire Foy, left, “The Crown” traces Eliza-
and Matt Smith pose for photographers on arrival at the pre-
miere of the series 'The Crown, Season 2' in central London. beth’s journey from prin-
Associated Press cess to queen, beginning
in the 1950s. Foy and Smith
LONDON (AP) — Produc- Tuesday to actors Claire are being replaced by old-
ers of the Netflix drama Foy and Matt Smith over er performers in the next
"The Crown" apologized the revelation that Foy was season.q