Creepy Nuts

Creepy Nuts' inventive and exuberant brand of J-pop barrels along at seemingly reckless speed without ever losing its footing. The duo enjoyed its international breakout with 2024's "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born," a daffy confection that combined Latin rhythms, Japanese hip-hop, and big Jersey club energy to thrilling effect. A rapper from Osaka, R Shitei, and his Tokyo-based partner DJ Matsunaga formed the group in the early 2010s, developing their sound as they continued solo careers that included multiple wins in the Ultimate MC Battle and the DMC World DJ Championships. They established Creepy Nuts' affection for off-kilter humor and action-packed productions on their project's major-label debut in 2017 and the 2020 mini-album To Us Former Prodigies. But it wasn't until Creepy Nuts' music became fixtures on anime series like Call of the Night—which made prominent use of the effervescent 2022 single "Daten"—and Mashle: Magic and Muscles—which helped launch "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born"—that the group's songs became dance-challenge soundtracks for listeners far beyond its native land.