Editing Eyedea (section)

==Early life==
Eyedea grew up near [[Saint Paul, Minnesota]], with his mother Kathy Averill, who gave birth to him when she was seventeen years old. He is of [[Irish people|Irish]] and [[Lebanese people|Lebanese]] descent.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.facebook.com/eyedeaandabilities/posts/10152476225076994 |date=2014-12-10 |via=Facebook.com |first=Kathy |last=Averill |type=Interview transcript |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240527052311/https://www.webcitation.org/6VhWabKQD?url=https://m.facebook.com/eyedeaandabilities/posts/10152476225076994 |archive-date=2024-05-27 |url-status=live |title=I'm half Lebanese, and mostly Irish otherwise |publisher=Facebook.com |access-date=2015-04-02 }}</ref> He attended [[Highland Park High School (Minnesota)|Highland Park Senior High School]].<ref name=CP/>

Eyedea became known as a battle MC, touring the circuit between 1997 and 2001. During this time, he won top prizes at Scribble Jam '99, the Rock Steady Anniversary 2000, and Blaze Battle New York 2000.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/news/40426-rip-rapper-eyedea-of-eyedea-abilities/|title=R.I.P. Rapper Eyedea of Eyedea & Abilities|website=Pitchfork|date=October 17, 2010}}</ref> These battles included him beating notable artists such as [[Immortal Technique]], [[Freestyle Fellowship|P.E.A.C.E]] and [[PackFM]]. In 1999, he made his first national appearance on the [[Anticon]] compilation, ''[[Music for the Advancement of Hip Hop]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.anticon.com/item/anticon-presents-music-advancement-hip-hop|title=Anticon Presents: Music For The Advancement Of Hip Hop {{!}} Anticon|website=www.anticon.com|access-date=2017-02-15}}</ref> He also toured extensively as second MC and support [[DJ]] for [[Atmosphere (music group)|Atmosphere]].

In 2001, he released ''[[First Born (Eyedea & Abilities album)|First Born]]'' with his partner [[DJ Abilities]] (collectively, they were initially called the Sixth Sense, but later changed the name to [[Eyedea & Abilities]]). In 2002, under his pen name "Oliver Hart", he released the self-produced ''[[The Many Faces of Oliver Hart|The Many Faces of Oliver Hart, or: How Eye One the Write Too Think]]''. In 2004, he reunited with Abilities to release the self-titled album ''[[E&A]]''.

All of Eyedea's releases have been on the [[Rhymesayers Entertainment|Rhymesayers]] record label, with the exception of the Carbon Carousel EP, which was released on his own [[Independent music]] label, Crushkill Recordings. In addition to touring independently and with Rhymesayers labelmates and members of [[Face Candy]], Eyedea & Abilities participated in the [[Def Jux]]-sponsored "Who Killed the Robots?" tour, titled by Eyedea.