Fresh off their first US concert, we had the chance to sit down with hip hop duo Creepy Nuts at Anime NYC 2024. DJ Matsunaga and MC R-Shitei make up the duo, and the pair have been releasing a high-energy, genre-bending multi-song repertoire together since their major label debut in 2017. Their conversation with members of the press covered a wide range of topics, including their creative process, favorite horror films, how their rising popularity has and hasn't affected them, and their reaction to the international attention from anime fans.
Portions of this interview have been lightly edited for clarity.
Creativity and Style Mix
Among the creative touches that characterize their musical performances, one of the more creative parts about Creepy Nuts is their name, which has intrigued many fans (and members of the press). While DJ Matsunaga-san didn't go into the exact details of where the name came from or what its inspiration was, he did seem to hint that the duo might have come up with something different if they had known they were going to become the globally successful act that they have.
“I regret my choice a little bit at this point (laughs). I didn't expect a worldwide audience so I'm a little embarrassed now.”
Photo by @HiroyaBrian
Speaking more broadly about the creative process behind Creepy Nuts' work, he went on to explain that the duo iterates a track by sending it back and forth, building on it over time.
“I create a beat in a really simple, quite long format, but then I send it to R-Shitei to swim in it, experience it, enjoy it, repeat it, and that's the beginning of the iterative process, when one side is processing it and sending something back, and then there's an expectation and beating the expectation of each other's performance and creativity.”
The styles that both DJ Matsunaga-san and R-Shitei-san use have countless inspirations, so many in fact that it’s impossible to count them. When asked who their biggest inspirations are and how those inspirations shaped the Creepy Nuts sound, they couldn’t pinpoint one thing, but instead a combination of the musical inspirations they’ve experienced. DJ Matsunaga-san explains:
“It's hard to point to one specific influence. It's everything I've absorbed, everything, all the music that's surrounded me. It's a summation and a division for me; it's really a matrix of music that I've listened to throughout my life that has shaped and influenced me.”
Although he didn't specifically ask about his inspiration, R-Shitei-san talked about one of his personal favorites: horror movies. MC has talked about wanting to make a horror anime in the future. The press asked him what some of his favorite horror movies or anime are.
“I really like horror. Obviously anything I sing about in my lyrics, like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But I also really like non-CG special effects like The Howling, the Halloween series, and Hellraiser. But for the more recent stuff, I really like Some Like It Rare, Slaxx, and Get Out. Those are some of the titles that I appreciate.”
Image courtesy of @HiroyaBrian
In the case of both members of Creepy Nuts, fan expectations and industry demands are ever-present concepts that are tied to their own creativity—for better or worse. On the issue of meeting these fan expectations and balancing them with the duo's innate creativity, they had this to say.
DJ Matsunaga-san: What the audience wants, try to guess that's a really difficult direction. There's no destination in that way of thinking, and so what I want to do is really make music that I love. I want to enjoy music and so I really don't want to think about influences other than what I like in music. I prefer to be true to myself.
R-Shitei-san: Whenever I think, 'Okay, this movie is going to be successful,' it's just okay. Whereas when I don't expect anything, it's really natural. That's when I really get great feedback from the audience so I decide that it's not worth thinking about anymore.
International views and reception
Two of the recent Creepy Nuts shows have performed the opening or ending theme for MASHLE: MAGIC AND MUSCLES and Call of the Night, with the duo performing the opening theme for the former’s second season in early 2024 and the latter’s opening and ending theme in 2022 after inspiring the manga with their ideas. “Yofukashi no Uta.” In particular, the opening theme for MASHLE season 2, “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born,” completely blew up online, garnering a ton of fan content. Creepy Nuts will also perform the opening theme for the upcoming anime DAN DA DAN. I asked how it felt to perform such songs after their previous work was so well received by fans. DJ Matsunaga-san explained that while the positive reception from fans was great, that wasn’t the driving force behind the music.
“The reception is great, but that’s not what we write music for. The purpose of writing music is to create a sound and be ourselves. The reception is always great and we’re really happy to see that so many people love our music. But with each song, what we do is do our own thing, we try our best to create music that is unique and free for us.”
Photos courtesy of @HiroyaBrian
Additionally, he commented that while some aspects of Creepy Nuts' musical presence have of course changed with their increased popularity, the core of the duo's music remains the same. As mentioned earlier, they did not expect to have such a global audience and the reception has been a surprise to them. However, that still does not make them fundamentally different artists.
R-Shitei-san: We really didn't expect such a global audience and so yesterday was a great day. We were completely surprised to see how passionate New York was about our music. We really felt like the audience was singing along with us, even in Japanese. And so being able to perform live in America finally made it possible. It was real, because we were able to experience the audience and the music together in New York last night.
DJ Matsunaga-san: As a musician, I've always felt lucky to be able to make music that I feel is true to me. So that hasn't changed overnight. That hasn't changed since the big hit. But what has changed is the ability to be present, like here. [tại Hoa Kỳ] and there are audiences all over the world listening to our creativity, our music. And so I really feel like it's a moment to be grateful for. I'm grateful that new doors are opening, new vistas are coming to us, new experiences are coming to us. So grateful? Yes. Have I changed as a musician? No.
Looking at the duo’s more recent work, they were recently featured on a remix of Dua Lipa’s “Illusion.” When asked how they approached the remix differently than their original music, Creepy Nuts explained that the differences in style and language influenced their approach.
DJ Matsunaga-san: Usually our songs are rap based, because this is really a song based creation and so that's unique. Also, it's two different languages that I have to combine, and how to sync two completely different languages, I thought it would be difficult but it turned out to be very interesting. I feel really lucky that I got the opportunity.
R-Shitei-san: My lyrics are usually my personal world. It's my personal experience, me at the core. When we're in this situation [thực hiện một bản phối lại]I am entering an existing world. I am entering someone else's world, so how do I enter this existing world? And for “Illusion”, how do I explain this? How do I incorporate it into this creation? […] It was interesting to experience something where someone else's world already existed and I was stepping in and moving into a situation like that.
We’d like to thank both members of Creepy Nuts for speaking to the press and giving us a look into their creative process in the context of their international success. The duo will be performing the opening theme “Otonoke” for the upcoming anime DAN DA DAN. Stay tuned for future news about their performances and anime collaborations.
