Cher appears on the record because 'who didn't have a crush on Cher?'

RZA described the music as 'exclusive' and 'piece of contemporary art'

DailyMail.com among those to hear it for first - and last time before 2103

On Monday night, group played the album to a few in Queens, New York

Hidden in a vault in Marrakesh, it has been one of the most highly-anticipated albums in music history.

And tonight, after six years, the Wu-Tang Clan finally opened the handcrafted silver box that holds their unheard record Once Upon A Time In Shaolin - before sealing it away once more.

In an attempt to break free from the Spotify and YouTube era of freely-shared music, rap's most influential collective is selling the 31-track double LP to one bidder for millions of dollars.

After a private online-only sale this month through art dealers Paddle8 - which employs Britain's Princess Eugenie - the buyer cannot share the album for at least 88 years.

DailyMail.com was there with the group's de facto leader RZA, producer Cilvaringz, a small group of prospective buyers and half a dozen selected fans in Queens, New York City, for the first and last time any of the album would be played before the year 2103.

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Unprecendented: This is the Wu-Tang Clan's record Once Upon A Time In Shaolin that was played on Monday night to a small group before it is sold and kept secret until the year 2103. It has been six years in the making

The record comes in a silver, jeweled box with a specially-designed wax seal and a leather-bound book

The box: It was displayed for potential buyers who are expected to pay millions to obtain the sole incarnation

The Staten Island-born group revived the East Coast as an epicenter for hip hop in the early 1990s

Confirming the rumors that she would make a guest appearance, Cher's voice bellowed out during the 13-minute extract. And though it wasn't played, DailyMail.com understands it to be true that Barcelona FC players also make a cameo appearance.

Typical of the group's first record 36 Chambers, it features styles that shook the music scene in 1994 - soul samples, clips of dialogue from movies, and fierce rapping over sound effects of rain and thunder.

Reiterating its own grandeur, there are regular skits and pieces of dialogue that say, 'this has never been done before.'

All of the Staten Island clan's eight living members appear on it - but had no idea what they were recording when they laid down their parts.

The record casing was handcrafted from silver and wood by artists in Morocco, with a seal designed and printed by wax-smiths in Serbia.

'This has never been done before,' RZA told DailyMail.com after playing the record.

'Music is just handed out now, the industry is in crisis. People feel like they deserve to have it for free. This is art. You can take a picture of the Mona Lisa but that's not art.

'The same with this: you can never reproduce it - this is the final thing.'

The pre-sale event played up to the idea.

Those invited were subjected to airport-style security checks, and electronic devices were confiscated.

In a dark room, buyers spoke to auctioneers as light symphony music played.

The nickel silver and jeweled case with black cow leather lining was sat on a podium under spotlight, with two bodyguards standing either side.

YOU CAN'T HEAR IT... BUT HERE'S THE TRACK LISTING SHAOLIN SCHOOL ALLAH SCHOOL ENTRANCE (INTRO) 1:57 SUSTENANCE (INTRO) 0:43 RIVALS 4:12 LIONS 6:08 STAPLE TOWN PT.1 (INTERLUDE) 0:44 SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL 2:32 ETHIOPIA 7:55 THE SLAUGHTER MILL 6:31 HANDKERCHIEF 0:49 THE BRUTE 3:24 STAPLE TOWN PT.2 (INTERLUDE) 1:10 IQRA 7:23 THE PILLAGE OF '88 6:52 FLOWERS 5:49 CENTIPEDES 7:14 POISONED EARTH 4:34 THE WIDOW'S TEAR 3:55 SHAOLIN 6:14 SORROW 5:45 FREEDOM [INTERLUDE] 2:25 THE SHOGUN 4:40 THE SWORD CHAMBER 4:05 BLUE [INTERLUDE] 0:55 UNIQUE 2:32 SEMI AUTOMATIC FULL RAP FANATICS 1:56 THE BLOODY PAGE 5:09 STAPLE TOWN PT.3 (INTERLUDE) 3:30 THE SAGA CONTINUOUS 6:58 THE RAIN 7:16 SALAAM (OUTRO) 1:31 SHAOLIN SOUL [EXIT] 3:41

While some were fans, others were advisers who hailed from as far as Asia to inspect the 'artwork'.

One adviser for a Chinese collector, who wished to remain anonymous, told DailyMail.com collectors are clamouring to get their hands on the record and its silver box - whether they like Wu-Tang or not.

The box comes inside a cedar wood treasure chest covered with black cow leather and light beige velvet lining.

Inside, is a cinematic-style record, plus a leather-bound 174-page manuscript printed on gilded Fedrigoni Marina parchment with lyrics, credits, tales about the recording.

The adviser said: 'Someone said it would be worth $1 million. That's nothing. This is something completely different; completely new. I don't think I could put a price on it.

'The concept has not been seen before - and from the biggest rap collective in history... It is huge.'

The Wu-Tang Clan formed in the early 1990s, reviving the East Coast's reputation as an epicenter for hip hop.

RZA - pronounced 'rizza' - drew together nine MCs, including his own cousins who adopted the pseudonyms Ol' Dirty Bastard and GZA.

The remaining slots were filled by Raekwon, Masta Killa, U-God, Ghostface Killah, Method Man, and Inspectah Deck.

Ambition: RZA, né Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, wants the long-awaited album to be treated like a work of art

Unlike their other albums, it has not been produced by the group's de facto leader RZA (pictured) but by his apprentice, Moroccan rapper and producer Tarik 'Cilvaringz' Azzougar

The new album pays homage to the Wu-Tang Clan's history and meteoric rise to dominate the record industry

With industry domination in their sights, RZA saw that each member of the Clan was signed with different production companies, while maintaining their loyalty as a group.

Their first album, 36 Chambers, was hailed as unprecedented, with samples from soul music and kung fu movies.

Spanning 128 minutes, the stories and rhymes were largely recorded in Staten Island, New York, and hark back to their original mid-90s lyrics about the Shaolin.

It features all eight of the original members plus some affiliate rappers.

And as for Cher's cameo appearance, RZA said: 'Did nobody ever have a crush on Cher? She's the ultimate. Ain't nobody like Cher.'

Unlike their other albums, it has not been produced by the group's de facto leader RZA but by his apprentice, Moroccan rapper and producer Tarik 'Cilvaringz' Azzougarh - a Wu-Tang fan who visited the group's New York office five times until they took him on.

Cilvaringz explains he and RZA were already developing the concept of a record charting the Wu's history when the music industry changed completely.

Once Upon A Time In Shaolin has been stored in a handmade silver and nickel box embossed with the Wu's Shaolin symbol and a decorative design by Yahya, a British-Moroccan artist

Collectively, the group has produced seven albums - sometimes within months of each other

Within five years singles plummeted to the price of $0.99, and artists were streaming their work for free.

Simultaneously, Cilvaringz was chairing an art festival in Morocco, where he saw three tent poles bought for thousands of dollars.

'That [was] the first time I asked myself: "Why and how are these artists valued at such a price?" People like Dre or Kanye or RZA are geniuses in what they do, and their music is valued at 99 cents.

'No disrespect to Andy Warhol, Basquiat, Damien Hirst, or any other artists, but if you walk down the streets and ask people randomly, "Do you know Damien Hirst? Do you know Basquiat?" they'll say "Who?" If you say, "Do you know Dr. Dre? Do you know Kanye?," they'll say "Yeah."'

The album, he says, pays homage to the Wu-Tang Clan's history and meteoric rise to dominate the record industry.

The group became known for their business genius as they created a collective but each had their own solo contracts, thereby dominating the recording industry

36 Chambers: This was the collective's debut album which revolutionized the hip hop scene

And despite years of disputes erupting between the clan's members, RZA insists that there was 'no tension' when he informed his brethren he had been working on a secret album, adding 'the eight members, excluding myself, are the most talented MCs I have ever encountered. They are true artists because they aren't taught. You can't teach art.'

Speaking later with Genius executive editor Sasha Frere-Jones, RZA described his ambitions: 'Maybe Richard Branson will just buy it and put it on one of his planes and send it to another planet. That'd be dope!'

However, Cilvaringz conceded, the fact that the buyer cannot commercialize it means that they could distribute it for free.