Former pharmaceutical entrepreneur Martin Shkreli has made headlines for hiking the price of the popular drug Daraprim up to $750 and buying the only known copy of Wu-Tang Clan’s album, The Wu — Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. He recently worked his way further into hip-hop’s periphery by beefing with Ghostface Killah and leaking snippets of material believed to be from Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter V. In a recent interview with DJ Akademiks, Shkreli detailed how he managed to get his hands on what is widely believed to be Lil Wayne’s latest addition to the Carter series.
“I do have what I believe to be a two-CD, authentic, Carter V final product mixed down,” Shkreli said during an exclusive video interview with DJ Akademiks. “Nobody knows what Tha Carter V is. If fact, nobody can say until Lil Wayne says, ‘This is Tha Carter V. He’s controlling it. If he says, ‘You know what? That two-CD thing that Martin has? I’m gonna add some stuff. I’m gonna take a track off and put in five more.’ If he says that’s Tha Carter V, then that’s Tha Carter V. It’s his call.”
Shkreli claimed to have been approached by someone he assumed was a hacker with a proposition to get the album and said his reputation as a collector helped.
“If you’ve been known to spend seven figures on music, I would contact that person first before anyone else,” Shkreli stated. “Who else would you go to? Who else is putting seven figures down for unreleased rap tracks?”
According to Shkreli, the person who sold him Lil Wayne’s music did so legally, although the unnamed figure is not in Wayne’s camp.
“I believe that the sale is legal,” Shkreli added. “Criminal law? Forget it. But [in terms of] civil law, I don’t believe that Lil Wayne could sue me. I don’t believe Birdman can sue me. I don’t think Universal could sue me. It’s a legal sale.”
Other tidbits revealed during the interview include “a top streaming company” joining the bidding war for Tha Carter V and Shkreli’s relationship with Soulja Boy. You can view the full interview, which clocks in at nearly two hours, above.
