Creepy Nuts Prove the Power of Japanese-Language Rap on First North American Tour, Including Coachella: Concert Recap
Categoria: Musica
The tour launched April 10 with a headline closing slot on the Gobi Stage at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California.
Por Billboard | 24/06/2026
The duo of rapper R-Shitei and turntablist DJ Matsunaga, Creepy Nuts have cemented their status as Japan’s premier hip-hop act through the global smash “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born,” the breakout hit “Otonoke,” and a landmark headlining show at Tokyo Dome. Now, they’ve taken that momentum Stateside with Creepy Nuts North America Tour 2026, their first-ever run across the continent. The tour launched April 10 with a headline closing slot on the Gobi Stage at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival 2026 in Indio, California, followed by solo shows in New York City on the 13th and Chicago on the 15th. They returned to the Coachella desert on the 17th before crossing the border for a headlining concert in Mexico City on the 19th — five performances in ten days, covering roughly 10,000 kilometers. This report centers on the New York stop. Closing Coachella’s Gobi Stage, and with an unprecedented set featuring Japanese-language rap, was itself a landmark achievement. The performance generated buzz well beyond the grounds including livestreams, and earned the duo a glowing shoutout in Billboard’s “Best Moments From Coachella 2026 Day 1” under the headline “Creepy Nuts ‘Rap Really F-king Good’ at First North American Show.” Riding that wave across the continent, the pair arrived at their New York venue, the Hammerstein Ballroom at Manhattan Center, on the 13th to a room already chanting their name. As DJ Matsunaga set the turntables spinning, R-Shitei’s shout of, “NEW YORK, Are you ready!?” signaled the start, and the show opened with “Biriken.” The choice of “Biriken,” a reliable opener in their sets back home, effectively put their hard-won formula for igniting a crowd on display for a North American audience. The choice also carried a deeper resonance, in that the song’s lyrics trace how Billiken, a character born in America, sailed to Japan and took root there as a deity. In that sense, performing it in New York was a kind of homecoming for the figure itself. And the parallel is hard to miss: hip-hop, born in New York, traveled to Japan and grew into Japanese-language rap, and now Creepy Nuts — heirs to that lineage — were bringing it back to the source. The song, then, stood as a quiet symbol of cross-cultural continuity and the intersecting arcs of musical history. From there, the crowd jumped in unison through “Yofukashino Uta,” and “Daten” — kicking off with its trademark call-and-response — kept the momentum climbing, DJ Matsunaga laying scratch-work into the pre-chorus as well as the breakdowns while R-Shitei’s tight delivery drove the energy higher. R-Shitei worked the audience with a characteristic mix of Japanese and English, saying, “What’s up NY! We are Creepy Nuts! I’m on fire! I’m R-Shitei, he is DJ Matsunaga,” in the latter before someone in the crowd audibly called out,