Eyedea & Abilities

When an underground rapper comes off as enraged, vulnerable, or even a touch schizophrenic, there’s generally not much reason to worry. Nonetheless, Twin Cities duo Eyedea And Abilities’ 2009 album By The Throat often seems to warrant a quick emotional checkup. Abilities’ production dives into raw distortion across the album, and Eyedea delivers lines like “there’s no hell more harsh than a memory” as if he’s panicking rather than pulling back for reflection. If jarring, it still holds up the sprawling, cerebral promise of E&A’s 2001 debut, First Born, and 2004’s self-titled follow up, and casts the duo as the most unpredictable act on Rhymesayers—and one that somehow thrives on instability.

Updated 07/14/2010