England may barely register on Nasir Jones's radar - "I don't remember if I've ever been there," he said recently, which will pique those who turned out for his only tour to date, in 1995 - but London is willing to overlook the slight. The New York rapper's lengthy absence has increased appetites for this performance, and the Forum fairly crackles with anticipation.

Tickets are so prized that a ticketless group of about 40 people try to kick their way in. Three vanloads of police turn up, and the crowd grudgingly disperse. It is a dispiriting display of the aggression that often mars rap gigs, and delays the start of the show by 45 minutes.

Many inside are unaware of the scuffle, assuming that the late start is due to hip-hop's elastic concept of timekeeping. Anticipation has spilled over into irritation by the time Nas materialises, imposingly handsome in a T-shirt that says "I am the American Dream" and a Michael Jacksonesque glove. A pair of stout bodyguards plant themselves at either side of the stage and he is away into the raw stomp of Got Ur Self A ...

Annoyance is forgotten as Nas, trailed by two co-MCs, shimmies to the front of the stage and teasingly leaps back before overexcited fans can vault the pit and carry him off.

Now on his sixth album, Nas has a wealth of material to plunder. Here, he mainly confines himself to the recent God's Son and radio hits such as If I Ruled the World and Oochie Wally. He booms these authoritatively, transforming the syllables "Oochie wally wally, oochie bang bang" into an incantation that conjures up the spirit of the long-departed Tupac Shakur. At least, that is Shakur's voice harmonising with Nas's on the prettily acoustic Thugz Mansion, on which Nas reveals that even he is not immune to the hypnotic pull of the air guitar.

It is a slick, professional show, accentuated by a display of old-time breakdancing and, to fans' delight, a swipe at his playground rival, Jay-Z. But the "Fuck Jay-Z" chants are preceded by "Fuck George Bush", a foray into Public Enemy politicism that rather suits him. Don't leave it so long next time, Nas.