Jay-Z cuts 2 deals – with Live Nation & Beyonce

Jay-Z has had a big week. The rapper is expected to finalize a contract with Live Nation records soon worth $150 million. If that weren’t enough to celebrate, last night he reportedly married his superstar girlfriend, Beyonce Knowles.

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A source reports to People magazine that the couple married last night at and celebrated at Jay-Z’s New York penthouse apartment with a small group of family and friends, including Beyonce’s former Destiny’s Child band members and celebs like Gwyneth Paltrow and husband Chris Martin.

Although the couple has yet to confirm their marriage officially, they were spotted last week in Scarsdale, NY obtaining a marriage license.

In addition to paying Jay-Z $25 million up front, Live Nation would also finance his future endeavors, including any talent consulting, clothing lines, tours, albums, and record labels that the rapper would work on in the future. The conglomeration of Jay-Z’s efforts would be labeled Roc Nation. The company would then split future profits with Jay-Z.

Jay-Z is known for his entrepreneurial success outside of the music business. He has made significant achievements in both the fashion and nightlife industries. He founded Roc-a-wear, a clothing line he sold for $204 million last year. He also started his own nightclub, the 40/40 club, which now has locations in New York, Atlanta, and Las Vegas.

Although Jay-Z still owes another album to Def Jam records, where he held the position of president until December 2007, he will be paid $10 million per record by Live Nation. His contract will require three albums from Jay-Z in the next ten years.

This deal will further cement Jay-Z’s departure from his self-proclaimed retirement. In 2003, when he released The Black Album, Jay-Z announced it would be his last studio album. In 2006, he released the album Kingdom Come, which he followed with American Gangster, an album meant to accompany the Denzel Washington film.

Live Nation will ink the long-term deal with Jay-Z even though his last album, American Gangster, did not garner the same success of his previous records, selling about one third the number of records that The Black Album sold. Jay-Z refused to release American Gangster on iTunes because believed the album should be purchased as a whole and not by individual tracks.

This is the third major deal Live Nation has made with a top recording artist. The company signed a similar deal with with Madonna in 2007 and another with U2 earlier this week, worth $120 and $300 million, respectively.

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