Drop parties are a distinctly new millennium phenomenon, so setting one among the treasures of the ancient world may have been a 21st century first.

This release party, the final “takeover” event of 2017 at the Asian Art Museum on Sept. 21, did double duty as a drop for 36 Chambers, the Bay Area clothing line by Mustafa Shaikh and Wu-Tang Clan co-founder RZA. Also debuting that night: the first track from “Wu-Tang: The Saga Continues,” the new hip-hop album set for release Friday, Oct. 13.

The museum’s takeover series focuses on “how great minds think differently,” and Wu-Tang’s RZA (pronounced “Rizza”) certainly fits the description. The 48-year-old rapper, producer and fashion designer, whose birth name is Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, is known for his signature “chopped” beats, East-West cross-pollinations (Wu-Tang Clan is named for the 1983 Hong Kong movie “Shaolin and the Wu Tang”) and his many side projects. He appeared in Jim Jarmusch’s 2003 film “Coffee and Cigarettes,” wrote the 2004 book “The Wu-Tang Manual,” and directed the 2012 martial arts film “The Man With the Iron Fists” starring Russell Crowe.

RZA and Shaikh founded the 36 Chambers lifestyle brand in 2016. The name comes from the 1993 debut Wu-Tang album “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).” “Wu-Tang: The Saga Continues” is the first music release from 36 Chambers ALC. Like Wu Tang Clan’s music, the 36 Chambers brand is a melange of Asian aesthetics, classic hip-hop influences and contemporary trends.

“We’re back at the Asian, where the inspiration began,” said RZA in the first of his two public conversations that night with Jeff Chang, the executive director of Stanford’s Institute for Diversity in the Arts.

The collection showcased at the Asian Art Museum was inspired by a visit by RZA and Shaikh to the 2016 exhibition “Emperors’ Treasures,” which featured rare Chinese art from the collections of nine rulers dating from the 12th through the 20th centuries. The collection’s fall 2017 lookbook was also shot at the Asian Art Museum.

“When I saw the show, I said, ‘Wow, this covers a lot of what 36 Chambers is,’” RZA said in an earlier interview. “For us to take it to that space and do fashion (with the art), we felt so lucky. It’s such a cool well of ideas to pull from.”

Shaikh added, “We created 36 Chambers very much on the Wu philosophy and with Asian influences like in the exhibition. We felt it was only right to present the collection at the Asian Art Museum. We like to go full circle.”

Here’s Style’s play-by-play of how the Wu-Tang takeover went down.

Tony Bravo is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tbravo@sfchronicle.com

A Dash of customization: The first thing that’s noticeably different for the 36 Chambers takeover is the scene in the Asian Art Museum’s south court. It’s become a “customization chamber” via Julian Prince Dash (sewing pink jacket, right) of Holy Stitch in San Francisco, where guests can add patches and other finishing details (far right) to their favorite shirts, hats and outerwear. Guests shop the brand’s fall collection (by end of night it will be nearly sold out), sewing machines whir, and people are already listening to DJ Climax’s “ample sample” mixes of past Wu-Tang hits on museum-distributed headphones. Every hour on the half hour, an exclusive first listen to a track from “Wu-Tang: The Saga Continues” plays on the headphones for guests.

RZA responds: The crowd heads upstairs to Samsung Hall for Jeff Chang’s (above right) conversation with RZA (above left) and 36 Chambers partner Mustafa Shaikh. Chang asks RZA when he first developed an interest in Asian cultures and philosophies. RZA mentions a longtime love of martial arts films, specifically the 1978 Liu Chia-Liang epic “36 Chambers of the Shaolin” as one of his early entry portals. “Seeing one guy beat up 10 — you can’t beat that!” he jokes. Like Wu-Tang’s music, RZA wanted the 36 Chambers brand to “tell a story,” he says. Asked whether he worries the brand’s melding of East-West aesthetics could be culturally problematic, he pauses thoughtfully. “I think the problem is cultural misappropriation, when designers don’t respect a source or do a good job,” he says. “We need to have cultural exchange, like when Xuanzang (an early Tang Dynasty-era Buddhist monk) walked from China to India to study the Buddha.” During the audience Q&A, a member asks for RZA’s thoughts on Martin “Pharma Bro” Shkreli’s being remanded to jail following his online threats against Hillary Clinton. (Shkreli also famously purchased the only copy of “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” by Wu-Tang for $2 million and has had an antagonistic relationship with the group ever since.) “It’s all about choices,” RZA responds. “He made some bad ones.”

Pushup comes to shove: Between onstage conversations, RZA and Shaikh relax in the museum’s Peterson Room. RZA jokes with Shaikh about a comment Shaikh made onstage calling RZA “an old man,” and challenges him to a pushup contest. Shaikh laughs in disbelief. “You shouldn’t have called me old then!” RZA responds before both men hit the floor, elbows out. RZA bests Shaikh with 58. As RZA and Shaikh pose for photos in the Peterson Room’s meditation garden sufficiently pumped, the rapper jokes: “He calls me an old man onstage,” he says of Shaikh, “but when we’re out or he wants something it’s ‘Uncle Bobby.’”

B-boys and the track: Guests converge again in the south court and watch b-boy dancers from the Mvmnt Studio crew, above is George “Wu Kong” Cheng, perform their mix of break-dancing and acrobatics. As the half-hour approaches, those without headphones dash to grab a pair to hear the first drop from “Wu-Tang: The Saga Continues.”

The track, “Lesson Learn’d” featuring Inspektah Deck, Redman and Mathematics includes a laugh-out-loud moment right away: A diss of Martin Shkreli.

“Hater / Wouldn’t last a day in my shoes / You know very well / Bet he swell / You can tell he jeal’ / My price hikin’ like the pills Martin Shkreli sell,” the group raps. There are some nods of recognition from guests listening.

“I think it was great, a typical Wu-Tang song,” Mario Riveira said. “I wouldn’t say it blew my mind, but it was Wu-Tang.”

Aerin Creer was more impressed. “I grew up with Wu Tang,” Creer said. “Getting to meet RZA was amazing. My mother and brother instilled in me a respect for him and Method Man when I was really young. What he said will resonate for me beyond tonight.”

36 Chambers Pieces from the fall collection are available at the Asian Art Museum gift shop, 200 Larkin St., S.F., and Sole Space, 1714 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. www.36chambers.com/