There was sad news out of Minneapolis this weekend, as City Pages reported the death of Michael Larsen, better known to the underground hip-hop world as Eyedea. Larsen passed away on Sunday (October 17), though the cause of death is not yet known. He was 28 years old.
Eyedea became an underground legend in the late '90s for his freestyle ability, which earned him countless victories in rap battles (including wins at Scribble Jam '99 and Blaze Battle Chicago 2000). His skills on the microphone (as well as his budding turntable abilities) earned him a spot as a sideman for Atmosphere, and he toured with the group just as they were beginning to become big. Later, he formed a group with his friend DJ Abilities (known to his mother as Gregory Keltgen) called the Sixth Sense, which they later changed to simply Eyedea & Abilities. Their 2001 debut album First Born (released on Rhymesayers, the same label that brought the world Atmosphere) was a modern abstract masterpiece, full of strange beats, frenetic cutting and Eyedea's jagged narratives about philosophy. It didn't find much of an audience but helped the legend of Eyedea grew, and he became known as a forward-thinking MC with an incredibly thoughtful worldview with the skills to back everything up.
The duo scored their big breakthrough with 2004's E&A, which was no less abstract than their first album but saw Eyedea's flow develop into a heavier, more accessible sound (though his lyrics remained layered and complicated). By the time they got to their 2009 album By The Throat, they had totally blown open their sound, which now featured a lot more live rock elements and singing on top of rapping (not a surprising development, as Eyedea had also formed a rock band called Carbon Carousel).
Eyedea was a rapper, a poet, an artist, a label chief and — most importantly — a guy who wanted to push hip-hop to the outer reaches of its potential. He will be missed, but he'll be remembered for his slanted take on music — an angle that is well-expressed on Eyedea & Abilities' "Smile," from By The Throat.