Ghostface Killah? And ?Martin Shkreli In?? ‘Once Upon A Time In Shaolin’ War

Martin Shkreli is the former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, and Ghostface Killah is a founding member of the multi-platinum, Grammy Award-nominated hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan. What these two have in common has yet to be seen, however, the two have not been able to appear in headlines without one another recently, as the two seem to be in a war with each other.

The RZA announced he would be auctioning the final Wu-Tang album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, and Shkreli – recently indicted on security fraud charges – wound up purchasing it for $2 million in 2015.

In a tweet pinned to his Twitter page, he writes “I am confident I will prevail. The allegations against me are baseless and without merit.”

This didn’t stop Ghostface Killah from lobbing an insult at the man. Ghostface is not a fan of Shkreli, specifically his decision to increase the price of a drug used by HIV/AIDS patients with parasitic infections. The price was raised from $13.50 per tablet to $750 per tablet. Since then, Martin Shkreli has been referred to as “Big Pharma’s Biggest A-hole” as well as “a new icon of corporate greed.”

https://twitter.com/flyinglotus/status/692833286683365376

Ghostface Killah, 45, was approached by TMZ and Martin Shkreli, the man who purchased the highly coveted Once Upon a Time in Shaolin album, came up in conversation. Ghostface used profanity when referring to Martin, saying that the album should instead belong to “the people.”

“You don’t take an AIDS pill that you had for seven dollars, and then make it like 800 dollars,” Ghostface said in the TMZ video. “You don’t do that like that, I don’t care if you bought Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,” referring to Martin Shkreli as a “s***head.”

Ghostface, during a second encounter on TMZ, compared Shkreli’s nose to Michael Jackson’s nose, holding up a picture of Shkreli on his phone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT_3o4-9WPw

The “Pharma boy” Martin Shkreli decided to retaliate with his own video, bringing along a few of his friends to look intimidating while standing behind him. TMZ obtained the video, which has Shkreli threatening to erase Ghostface Killah from the Once Upon a Time in Shaolin album if he does not receive an apology for what Killah said. Pharma boy specifically wants a written apology “at least 500 words, no grammatical errors and Shaolin stays intact.”

In the beginning of the video, Martin refers to Ghostface by his birth-given name, Dennis, telling that he isn’t a Ghostface Killah and nobody ever tries to “beef” with him. He calls him an old man and says he is irrelevant and is trying desperately to hold on to Martin’s spotlight. The three men around him are all wearing hoodies and covering up their faces, throwing in random comments in between what Martin is saying.

“You think you’re the only tough guy from New York City?” Martin asks. “I’m sorry, but, you don’t know us. Why are your goons not as hard as mine? Stop pretending, stop acting, stop lying. Be real, as your video once said.”

“I’m going to erase you from the record books of rap,” Shkreli said.

Also calling Ghostface Killah “an old man that’s lost his relevance. You have to listen to me. Without me, you’re nothing.”

In watching the video, it’s evident that Martin is not furious or angry, he is, in fact, smiling throughout most of the video. Given this, it is not entirely clear whether or not he will actually go through with the threat of erasing Ghostface Killah from the album if he does not receive the written apology.

https://twitter.com/MartinShkreli/status/690625749049544704

Martin Shkreli is still awaiting trial for securities fraud.

[Photo by Kevin Winter/Andrew Burton/Getty Images]