UPDATE, Saturday 5th April: Sigh. We should have known not to get too excited too soon — just received this from the promoter:

"Nas is confirmed. Officially, its not going to be a performance. it’s a private party featuring Nas."

We've been desperate to tell you about this for a while now but, not wanting to jinx it, we've been holding back until it was officially confirmed. Well, we still might be waiting for complete 100% total confirmation but we're just too damn excited to wait any longer so here it is: Nas is coming to Shanghai! Nas! In Shanghai! Nas!

Excited? You should be. Since his 1994 debut Illmatic, frequently referred to as one of the greatest rap albums of all time, Nasir Jones has been recognised as being at the top of the pile when it comes to hip-hop, with a string of genre defining records. He'll be bringing his live show to the newly opened Racks (in the south block of Xintiandi) on Friday April 25th before heading up to Beijing the next day.

Whether these tour dates indicate that his slightly err... controversially titled forthcoming album will finally be coming out soon remains to be seen. Originally slated for release earlier this year, there has so far been no word on an official date. Still, whether his new album is out by then or not, Nas certainly has a fantastic back catalogue from which to draw on for a set and we expect his performance to be one of the highlights of the year for Shanghai's live music scene.

There'll be more ticket info and details when we get them...