Eyedea (born Mike Averill in 1982, also known as Oliver Hart) is a well-known freestyle battle champion and underground rapper. His notable wins include the televised Blaze Battle sponsored by HBO (2000) and a victory at Scribble Jam (1999). He has appeared as a solo artist, and as the emcee half of the duo Eyedea & Abilities (along with longtime friend and collaborator DJ Abilities). His non-battle rhymes are generally philosophically or thematically based, and often tell a definite narrative. His song "Bottle Dreams" is a well known piece about a sexually abused violin prodigy who commits suicide.
For much of his youth, Eyedea lived with his mother in downtown St. Paul, MN. He attended Highland Park Senior High School, with interests including psychology, physics, and yoga. Favorite authors include James Joyce, and Finnegan's Wake is a favorite text of his.
First establishing himself as a battle emcee, Eyedea toured the circuit between 1997 and 2001, notably winning top prizes at Scribble Jam ‘99, the Rock Steady Anniversary 2000, and Blaze Battle Chicago 2000. He also toured extensively as second emcee for Atmosphere, with DJ Abilities sometimes filling in for Mr. Dibbs as tour DJ.
In 2001, he released First Born with his partner DJ Abilities (collectively, they were initially called the Sixth Sense, but they are now known as Eyedea & Abilities). In 2002, under his pen name "Oliver Hart", he released the self-produced The Many Faces of Oliver Hart. In 2004, he and Abilities reunited to release the self-titled album E&A (released March 23 2004). All of Eyedea's releases have been on the Rhymesayers record label.
In addition to touring independently and with Rhymesayers labelmates, Eyedea and Abilities participated in the Def Jux-sponsored Who Killed the Robots? tour, titled by Eyedea.
He is signed to Rhymesayers Entertainment, and frequently collaborates with Slug, Blueprint and Sage Francis.
Discography
- First Born (2001)
- The Many Faces of Oliver Hart (2002)
- E&A (2004)