Rap superstar Nas has embarked upon an 25-date tour, which kicked off on Tuesday (May 15) at a sold-out show in Amsterdam.

The rapper will hit a number of major European cities during the trek, which includes stops in Berlin, Warsaw and Madrid.

A tour representative also addressed recent reports that Nas skipped a performance in Croatia, due to security concerns.
The rapper was due in the capital city of Zagreb on June 3, for a show promoted by Croatian promoters and local label Aquarian Records, but allegedly backed out for safety reasons.

According to Nas’ International tour representative Anthony Saleah, the rapper did cancel the show in April, due to concerns about his safety in the country, which has been stable since 1995.

“We pulled out of the Croatia show in early April due to Nas not being totally comfortable with his safety,” Saleah told AllHipHop.com. “We gave them notice early enough. After the way this tour is going now he does feel more comfortable traveling in all parts of Europe and we do have all intentions of rescheduling his show in Croatia on our next tour in Sept. We also plan to hit Asia, Australia and Africa.”

The June 3 date in Croatia has been replaced With a show in Groningen, Netherlands.

Nas’ European tour dates are listed below:

05/15/07 Tue Amsterdam
05/17/07 Thu Paris, France
05/18/07 Fri Birmingham, UK
05/20/07 Sun Cardiff, Wales
05/21/07 Mon Manchester, UK
05/22/07 Tue London, UK
05/24/07 Thu Barcelona, Spain
05/25/07 Fri Lausanne, Switzerland
05/26/07 Sat Zurich, Switzerland
05/27/07 Sun Dublin, Ireland
05/28/07 Mon Dublin, Ireland
05/29/07 Tue Oslo, Norway
05/31/07 Thu Copenhagen, Denmark
06/01/07 Fri Berlin, Germany
06/02/07 Sat Stockholm, Sweden
06/03/07 Sun Groningen
06/04/07 Mon Helsinki, Finland
06/05/07 Tue Gothenburg
06/08/07 Fri Warsaw, Poland
06/09/07 Sat Budapest, Hungary
06/10/07 Sun Bologna, Italy
06/11/07 Mon Milan, Italy
06/12/07 Tue Toulouse, France
06/13/07 Wed Lyon, France
06/14/07 Thu Madrid, Spain

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“It was surreal because they are the greatest rappers who ever lived, and who live right now,” Chrisette said of her appearance alongside Jay-Z and Nas on “Lost Ones” and “Can’t Forget About You” respectively. The singer described the experiences as very different.

“Me and Jay-Z worked together (in the studio). I wrote a hook, I went into the studio and I sang it and he said ‘come back out.’ I got to the 5th hook and that was the one he decided to use. He’s very meticulous; whereas with Nas, he wasn’t in the studio, we spoke over the phone. I heard the concept, and I just wrote something and he told me to use that, as well as four other songs. He was much more laid back I guess,” Chrisette recalled.

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Nas canceled his most recent tour date in San Diego for his “Hip Hop is Dead” tour claiming that he and his wife, singer Kelis, were met with “racist” employees who they said treated them like “terrorists”.

Radio station Z-90.3 host Tre interviewed Nasir, who expressed his disappointment with the House of Blues on Wednesday May 2nd, the same evening of his show.

Nas described the nights events as they unfolded, “We came to the club, all excited. Couldn’t wait to get there. [The tour venues] have been sold out every night. The energy from everybody has been crazy. Every time I come to San Diego, the energy’s crazy. Go to the venue and they ain’t let me in. I was outside with my wife and they treated us like terrorists. It was a little racist and we just don’t tolerate that. I just want everybody to know, don’t tolerate any form of racism.”

Nas said that he and his entourage didn’t respond in a way that could have made the situation much worse. Adding, “We deal with racists in a way that they are supposed to get dealt with. We dealt with it in a manner of respect when they should have been disrespected. We just left it alone, you know. It was just a real nasty, racist situation.”

San Diego’s House of Blues had no comment at this time.

Nas said of the incident on-air, “There is no other side of the story. We were treated like terrorist. We had a whole bunch of security guys rush outside to me and my wife like we were terrorists. Its not like I came with 50 guys or nothing. It was just me, my wife, my DJ and my staff for the ‘Hip-Hop Is Dead” tour and they came at us like we was Osama Bin Laden or somebody,”

Nas was quick to point out, “That’s a good club. I’ve played that club twice. I love that club. It must be new management or something, I said [to them] ‘Do you treat Bon Jovi like this?’ They said, ‘No.’”

From a moral standpoint, Nas said that he simply couldn’t stay, regardless of the fact that the venue was sold out and fans were hugely disappointed.

“Anybody that tolerates racism is a sucker in my book, all of that gotta stop,” Nas told the radio listening audience and vowed to return to San Diego only to perform to a much larger venue.

The San Diego House of Blues performance was the last date on the “Hip Hop is Dead” concert tour, a sad ending to a hugely successful tour.

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