J-hip hop duo Creepy Nuts on their name, guesting in The Weeknd Singapore concerts

Sometimes you make a decision on a whim, not knowing it would permanently haunt you for life.

Such is the case for the Japanese hip hop duo who named themselves Creepy Nuts in 2013.

In an interview with AsiaOne on Oct 5, members R-Shitei and DJ Matsunaga shared the origin of the band name.

"Well, we were young. We kinda decided on this name on a whim back then. We just thought it sounded quite pop-like and quite cute, but it had a little bit of a 'bad' meaning as well," said 35-year-old R-Shitei.

The rapper recalled they were joking around at the time and "had no idea" the name would eventually become known by English speakers too. 

"I guess that was a mistake on our part," he added humorously, while Matsunaga, 36, remarked: "Yes, I regret it. I wish we could change it."

But when asked what they'd change it to, they pondered for a bit before R-Shitei came to the conclusion that they'd probably "come up with something weird again".

The duo, who released a few songs and EPs before making their major label debut under Sony Music Entertainment Japan in 2017, were special guests of Canadian singer The Weeknd at his Singapore concerts on Oct 2 and 3, where they delivered high-energy 40-minute sets. 

They opened with the rap-heavy Biriken and performed hit songs including Bling-Bang-Bang-Born, which gave them their breakthrough in 2025, as well as Yofukashi no Uta and Mirage.

The last song Otonoke drew screams, with more in the audience holding their phones up to record the theme song of the anime Dandadan. 

During the interview, they told us how The Weeknd had reached out to them to be his special guests on the Asian leg of his After Hours Til Dawn tour.

"At the beginning of this year, we had a chance to meet him in Japan. It was a very brief meeting and we talked for a bit. At first, it was really just that," recalled R-Shitei.

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"Then a few months after that, he asked if we wanted to be part of his Asia tour. We were surprised."

Matsunaga added: "Yes, we were very surprised, we didn't think he'll invite us on tour."

The duo admitted they had some concerns before the tour kicked off.

R-Shitei anticipated that a lot of concertgoers might not know them as they were there to see The Weeknd.

As he's monolingual, he also worried about how he would communicate and interact with audiences who spoke other languages. 

At the Oct 2 show which AsiaOne attended, R-Shitei made effort to speak in English to the best of his abilities.

When he struggled a bit, he asked the crowd "Japanese okay?" which drew a few chuckles from the audience.

Matsunaga had similar concerns but said the Singapore crowd "reacted really well".

R-Shitei agreed: "Yeah, they really embraced us."

He also noticed that there were people in the audience who knew their songs.

"It was pretty great… In general everyone was grooving, vibing and moving their bodies to the rap and the beat. There were people dancing too. It made me really happy," he said.

R-Shitei said this stadium tour gives them a chance to let audiences know who they are.

"It's a chance to let people who don't know about us at all to get introduced to us, and also a chance for people who may have heard some of our songs but have never seen us live before to know how fun we are on stage. That's a personal goal of mine," he said.

"Of course, through touring Asia, including Singapore, I'm also thinking about how I do want to come back here one day for our own show as well."

The Asia tour started in Tokyo on Sept 19, followed by Jakarta, Singapore and most recently Seoul on Oct 7 to 8. It will continue to Bangkok and Hong Kong before wrapping up in Kuala Lumpur (KL) on Nov 5.

Creepy Nuts were at the Tokyo and Seoul shows, and will be at the Bangkok and KL ones.

New music in the works

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The band's last music release was in August with their single Running Wheel. R-Shitei told us the track is a continuation of their song Fright.

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"Fright was a song where I talked about some of the anxiety and fear I felt about going overseas and performing in places we didn't know. Now that we've done that, we've been onstage and we've interacted with the audience, we've brought our music across to them, this song is about that sense of accomplishment. So I feel like it's a follow-up song to Fright in that way," he explained.

Despite their busy schedules, they're working on new music.

R-Shitei said they managed to make progress on two songs on the day before they came to Singapore.

He added: "Right now, I'm at the stage where I'm constantly thinking about our new music. When I'm just strolling around Singapore, I'm thinking about lyrics. The album is truly in-progress at the moment."

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syarifahsn@asiaone.com

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