Nas plans to preview his show Friday (7/18) with a free concert for his MySpace friends at The Roxy in West Hollywood, CA. His headlining run will stick to clubs and theaters across the US and into Canada. The rapper, real name Nasir Jones, called his "Jones Experience" tour "a big show in an intimate venue."

"I felt this experience was important because I wanted to touch my fans in an intimate setting with this new album," Nas said in a statement. "All the fans that have supported me over the years, I truly appreciate it and this is my way of giving back."

The performer's new album, his ninth, is garnering generally positive reviews from critics following a controversy that spread to the mainstream political arena. Nas had originally planned to title the set "N---er" before some major retailers said they wouldn't stock an album bearing the n-word, according the The Wall Street Journal.

"I just wanted to see how far I could go with it," Nas told the Journal. "Because of the heat coming down on me, I saw it becoming a circus. I told myself that if it came to that point that I would make the change, because there's a message in that, too."

The record's lead single, "Hero" featuring Keri Hilson, entered the R&B/hip-hop songs chart this week and a sample of the tune is streaming at Nas' MySpace page.

The untitled disc follows the rapper's 2006 Grammy-nominated set, "Hip-Hop is Dead," which became his third No. 1 album. Last year, Columbia Records also released Nas' "Greatest Hits" collection, which comprises 12 cuts culled from his Columbia catalog--from 1994's "Illmatic" through 2004's double-disc set, "Street Disciple--along with two new songs: "Surviving The Times" and "Less Than an Hour."