Pitchfork

Photo by Kyle Gustafson

Big pimpin up in L-I-V-E! The New York Times reports that Jay-Z has signed a $150 million deal with concert promotions behemoth Live Nation, encompassing his tours, albums, endorsements, and other business endeavors over the course of the next ten years. Those other endeavors will be under the rule of a new company called Roc Nation, and "are expected to include his own label, music publishing, and talent consulting and managing," according to the Times.

Live Nation expects at least three albums from Hova during the decade to come, and he's getting $10 million for each of them. We can also look forward to a lot more touring from him. Jay-Z told the Times, "In a way I want to operate like an indie band. Play the music on tour instead of relying on radio. Hopefully we'll get some hits out of there and radio will pick it up, but we won't make it with that in mind."

He also said, "I've turned into the Rolling Stones of hip-hop."

As previously reported, Jigga left his position as President of Def Jam Recordings in December, but was still under contract to the label as a recording artist. He still owes Def Jam one more album, which the Times reports will come out in 2008. So yeah, that album will kind of be like when your parents decided they were getting divorced, but they didn't want to break the news to Grandma until after she came to visit for the holidays, so they pretended that everything was fine and dandy for a few weeks.

This is the second ginormous deal Live Nation has struck this week, with U2 signing a 12-year contract for touring, merchandising, and website management, but not recording. In October, Madonna signed an all-encompassing deal with Live Nation valued at $120 million.

Jay-Z is currently out on the road with Mary J. Blige on a tour put together by, yes, Live Nation.

Jay-Z dates:

04-03 Boston, MA - TD Banknorth Garden *
04-05 Greensboro, NC - Greensboro Coliseum *
04-06 Washington, DC - Verizon Center *
04-08 Atlanta, GA - Philips Arena *
04-09 New Orleans, LA - New Orleans Arena *
04-10 Houston, TX - Toyota Center *
04-12 Dallas, TX - Superpages.com Center *
04-15 Anaheim, CA - Honda Center *
04-16 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl *
04-18 Irvine, CA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheater *
04-19 Las Vegas, NV - MGM Grand Garden Arena *
04-20 Oakland, CA - Oracle Arena *
04-25 Auburn Hills, MI - Palace at Auburn Hills *
04-26 Chicago, IL - United Center *
04-27 Chicago, IL - United Center *
05-02 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden *
05-03 Atlantic City, NJ - Boardwalk Hall *
05-06 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden *
05-07 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden *
05-08 Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Arena *
05-09 Montreal, Quebec - Centre Bell Centre *
06-23-27 Arendal, Norway - Hove Festival
06-27-29 Glastonbury, England - Glastonbury Festival
06-29 Milton Keynes, England - National Bowl #
07-04-06 Gdynia, Poland - Heineken Open'er Festival
07-11-13 Leipzig, Germany - Splash! Festival
07-25-27 Pemberton, British Columbia - Pemberton Festival

* with Mary J. Blige
# with Linkin Park