Creepy Nuts Talk Production of New Album ‘LEGION’ & How ‘Tsujoukai’ Reflects the Duo’s Mind-Set: Interview

Creepy Nuts recently dropped their highly anticipated new album called LEGION, their first in about two and a half years. The project consists of 15 tracks — the most the duo has ever included in a set — including two that made their name known on a global scale: their biggest hit to date, “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born,” and the follow-up single, “Otonoke.”

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While rapper R-Shitei and DJ Matsunaga appear to be enjoying breakout success since last year with global hits under their belts, the track “Tsujoukai” (“usual episode”) on the new album is the pair’s answer to those who see them in that light. This latest Billboard Japan interview by the two artists gives fans a look into their innate strengths as creators they’ve cultivated up to this point, which explains why they’re able to state that any situation is a “usual episode” for them.

I read the lyrics before playing the album, and thought they depicted a “true-to-life documentary” more than ever before. Was this intentional?

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R-Shitei: After trying to write from the perspective of different people in our previous album Ensemble Play, I went back to (focusing on) “living” more so than when we were busy. For me in particular, changes happened in my private life and lots of words came to me naturally. The first song that led to the creation of this album, “Biriken,” started from that kind of hyper-documentary aspect, so the project naturally became all about our own stories.

Then when I listened to the songs, I was surprised to find that the “fewer notes” aspect that Matsunaga-san mentioned in last year’s mid-year interview was even more evident that I’d expected. Was that something you intended to do for this entire album from “Biriken” the first single off the set?

DJ Matsunaga: I didn’t have the entire album in mind, but when I considered “making good songs” (that’s what happened). I want every detail to be high quality, even if you take all the riffs apart and look at just one instrument. Layering a lot of different instruments works out somehow, but with the (relatively sparse) number of sounds on this album, if I compromised even a bit, it probably wouldn’t have worked. I think the most high-quality tracks are ones with a spartan design on the verge of being cheap, that are simple but still sound great, and it feels like I was able to perfect that in my track production.

When did you start thinking that way?

DJ Matsunaga: I’ve always been like that, but the sentiment might have been getting stronger every year. It’s become an absolute must for me lately. I researched and selected everything from the microphones to the preamps and compressors used in the recording. Those kinds of expertise aren’t easily found in Japan, so I had to think and make it myself in the end.

The first track on the album, “Chugaku 22 nensei” (“22nd year of junior high school”), had by far the fewest number of sounds of any of the songs on the set. The title harks back to your song “Chugaku 12 nensei” (2018), which also has a sparse track. Was this also intentional?

DJ Matsunaga: It wasn’t my intent for this one to be entitled “Chugaku 22 nensei” off the bat. R sent the demo back with something I hadn’t imagined.

R-Shitei: At first, I think we both intended to make a song with a completely different mood. But we made the right choice. This time in particular, the process of making the album had that kind of joy to it. Like seeing how far we can use our ideas to go off the rails and make the leap to a place we didn’t imagine.

DJ Matsunaga: That’s true. “Causing an accident.”

I see. And you mentioned “A life of reaching No. 1 on Billboard” in your lyrics. [Laughs]

R-Shitei & DJ Matsunaga: [Laugh]

R-Shitei: Yeah… I took the liberty of using that. [Laughs]

By the way, the engineers who worked on this album have previously worked with some great U.S. rappers including Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Tyler, the Creator and more. Did you gain any new inspiration from them?

DJ Matsunaga: The finished sounds are so different. It’s pretty hard to talk about sounds using only terms that everyone can recognize, but they delivered what I wanted to make.

Why did you ask these top-tier engineers to participate?

DJ Matsunaga: There were certain sounds I wanted to make, so I tapped people outside of Japan to make them happen. I asked some great engineers who even raised the bar of the quality I was seeking.

From the eighth track “Get Higher” onwards, I thought that the perspective rapidly turns inward. “Tsujoukai” in particular really seems to express what you want to say most as Creepy Nuts at the moment.

R-Shitei: Rap is about taking your personal experiences from everyday life and interpreting them in a hyper-dramatic way. So that’s “usual” — that’s how I interpret everything, in every situation. It’s true that I write lyrics in a dramatic way, but that’s probably the limit of how dramatic I can be as someone in this line of work. So it’s already wrapped up from my point of view, but from people looking from the outside, it probably appears more dramatic in a way. So that’s why I’m saying it’s a “usual episode” again. This song’s mood is where we’re at right now.

DJ Matsunaga: Wherever we go, people treat us like we’ve entered the final phase (of success). But my life hasn’t changed at all since last year.

R-Shitei: I know, right? I mean, as a rapper, I’ve pulled off something that makes people go, “That’s amazing,” so I do say, “I did it!” but I’m not living a glam life in my lyrics, am I? [Laughs]

No, you’re not. [Laughs]

R-Shitei: I wrote the whole album with that kind of mood, and put my feelings into it, so that’s why I expressed it like that in “Tsujoukai.”

DJ Matsunaga: That’s so true. It doesn’t mean it’s constantly calm, but like a lull.

R-Shitei: I have really intense ups and downs, but that just continues as it always has. I probably interpret everything too extremely. That hasn’t changed. I think that’s why I’m probably cut out to be a rapper.

DJ Matsunaga: Lately I feel kind of at a loss because I don’t get worked up over anything. But I guess that means I can focus on sounds. Maybe my mind’s in a place where I can concentrate on sound production.

R-Shitei: So if you think about it like that, it’s a good thing, isn’t it? I’d probably want to immerse myself in that frame of mind as much as I can once I get into it. Then lots of words come out, but when we were really busy, we had to deal with other work before I could (write lyrics). This time, we were able to use plenty of time luxuriously…

DJ Matsunaga: …so we were able to dive in deep.

R-Shitei: Yeah, that was what was so great. Matsunaga was in his “lull” and was able to dive deep into his sounds. I was able to live everyday life immersing myself in the ups and downs and in the little things.

When I interviewed another act the other day, the composer said they wrote the melody as a “representation of their emotions,” and another member wrote the lyrics by “sharing the emotions” in that melody. You two seem to be the complete opposite of that.

DJ Matsunaga: But when we’re playing catch with the music, I channel R-Shitei’s lyrics a lot. First I send him the riff, and then when he sends back the lyrics and rap, a story is added to it. So the criteria for sifting through which sounds will highlight that is born. I think our process is similar R being the screenwriter and me being the cinematographer, adding pictures to the script.

I see!

DJ Matsunaga: I tailor everything to the lyrics. Like for “Emmanuelle,” I really focused on that. Like the part in the verse where he says, “Unadareta oreni…” (“Downcast, I’m…”), I imagined the way R is feeling then and made the background music to fit that. I spend a lot of time doing all that.

R-Shitei: To be more precise about “facing music luxuriously” that I’ve been talking about, I mean that I had ample time to face my emotions and get inside myself.

DJ Matsunaga: I totally get what you mean.

R-Shitei: Right? That’s how something like “doppelgänger” came to be. Having different versions of yourself — and it’s not a matter of which is good or bad — is what a doppelganger represents. And in line with that, (the album’s title) LEGION is an army of demons, which in my mind is the monster Legion from the movie Gamera 2: Attack of the Legion, and that huge swarm that gathers consists of me and and my own emotions, you know?

Lastly, there’s a line in “Tsujoukai” that goes, “Turntable and microphone, what we do doesn’t change.” What always impresses me about your shows is the stoic way you always hype up the audience with just the turntable and microphone, no matter what venue you perform in. Could you elaborate on your commitment to this style?

R-Shitei: Probably because that’s ultimately our “max.”

DJ Matsunaga: That’s exactly it! We do it because it’s the best for us. A lot of hip-hop artists have bands or dancers join in during the performance… but if a band joins in, you don’t need me anymore.

R-Shitei: [Laughs]

DJ Matsunaga: The bigger the stage, the more people want to embellish the shows. I have mixed feelings about that. We just want to be able to keep doing some raw, incredible rapping and awesome DJing.

But I think there aren’t many people who can say that with such certainty… It takes courage to say that.

DJ Matsunaga: You’re right… I might have been arrogant. [Laughs] I want our stages to be like that because I’m really proud of what we do.

R-Shitei: I guess it’s because our strongest desire is to hit hard with our rapping and DJing.

—This interview by Maiko Murata first appeared on Billboard Japan