Minnesota Rapper Eyedea Dead at 28

By Alicia Cruz
The Black Urban Times

Minnesota rapper, Eyedea, died of unknown causes Saturday at his St. Paul home, mom Kathy Averill told The Associated Press.

Eyedea, whose real name is Michael Larsen, secured a victory at the HBO sponsored freestyle Blaze Battle and the Scribble Jam in 1999 and 2000, which helped launch his career as a battle emcee and underground rapper, according to his Wikipedia page.

As the emcee of rap group "Eyedea & Abilities", Larsen and longtime friend, DJ Abilities aka Gregory "Max" Keltgen recorded three albums on Minneapolis hip hop group Atmosphere's label, Rhymesayers Entertainment.

Larsen, who grew up on east side of Downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota, where he attended Highland Park Senior High School began touring the hip hop circuit between 1997 and 2001. He later contributed a track to Anticon records, a San Francisco Bay Area independent record label, and the compilation, Music for the Advancement of Hip Hop.

Signed to Rhymesayers Entertainment lable, he released his "First Born" album in 2001 with DJ Abilities, then returned to the airwaves in 2002, under the pen name "Oliver Hart", releasing self-produced album "Many Faces of Oliver Hart." Following a brief hiatus, Larsen returned to the stage in 2004 with album "E&A" a collaborative effort with DJ Abilities.

All of Larsen's albums were released by Rhymesayers with the exception of three, one being "The Some of All Things or: The Healing Power of Scab Picking", which was released on his own independent label, Crushkill Recordings

Averill told The Associated Press that she found her 28-year-old son dead in his sleep sometime Saturday and she is awaiting autopsy results.