Eyedea & Abilities

Eyedea & Abilities were an American hip-hop duo comprised of lyricist Eyedea and turntablism champion DJ Abilities. Under the name Sixth Sense they produced their first collaborative album Grand's Sixth Sense in the basement of their childhood home. Their wordy, thought provoking debut First Born was released under the name Eyedea & Abilities after signing to the underground hip hop label Rhymesayers Entertainment. Their commercially successful sophomore album E&A (released 2004) became a staple of the Twin Cities hip hop community, although following hectic touring the release of Eyedea & Abilities next album By The Throat would take several years, with Eyedea and DJ Abilities touring separately. After a productive hiatus they returned with the critically acclaimed By The Throat (released 2009). Sonically divergent from their earlier work, By The Throat would showcase the their individual development along with the talents of Jeremy Ylvisaker, J.T. Bates & Graham O'Brien. Eyedea (Born Micheal Larsen on November 9, 1981 – October 16, 2010) who also performed under the name Oliver Hart became widely known because of his battle and freestyle skills. The Many Faces of Oliver Hart prominently features the obliterating lyrical speed of a young Carnage the Executioner aka Terrell Woods along with Slug (of Atmosphere). Eyedea was best known for his victory at the Blaze Battle, which was aired on HBO, showing some of the best underground battlers in action. Eyedea largely toured with Slug aka Sean Daley during his early career, and would continue to collaborate with his mentor. Numerous posthumous releases regularly appear since his passing, including Face Candy Waste-Age Teen Land and Eyenine Afraid to Dream on Crushkill Recordings, along with dedications from Kristoff Krane aka Christoffer Keller, Sadistik aka Cody Foster, No Bird Sing, Sage Francis, Brother Ali, Carnage XXXL, Murs among others. His mother Kathy Averill maintains an official dedication site www.micheallarsen.com. DJ Abilities aka Maxx Keltgen is known for winning three DMC awards and for his work on his mixtapes and 1200 Hobos. He continues to tour, and is currently signed to Rhymesayers Entertainment. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.