Mom of late St. Paul rapper Eyedea sets up auction 'because he'd have wanted it'

Lyrics written on a Burger King napkin, flyers for some of his First Avenue shows and a backstage pass to former Gov. Jesse Ventura's inauguration are among the memorabilia from late St. Paul rapper Eyedea being sold in an online auction that begins Saturday.

Some 70 items and maybe more will be included in the "Eyedea: Time Capsule" auction, which is being organized by St. Paul collectors company the Nevermind Gallery with help from the rapper's mother.

Born Micheal "Mikey" Larsen and part of the Minneapolis-based Rhymesayers Entertainment indie-rap crew that also fostered the duo Atmosphere, Eyedea died in 2010 at age 28 of an accidental overdose. He left behind numerous plastic bins filled with items from his own budding music career as well as other music memorabilia, artwork he drew going back to his childhood and lots of other assorted collectibles.

"The kid collected more than I ever knew," said his mom, Kathy Averill, who has been slowly going through her son's stuff in recent years.

All of the items came out of the house they shared off W. 7th Street in St. Paul. Larsen housed a small recording studio in the basement there, and his turntable partner DJ Abilities (Max Keltgen) also lived there for a while in their youth.

Thirteen years since his death, Averill said, "It's still hard to let go," but she bluntly added, "I'm old now, and I'm living on Social Security. I need to start cutting down on things, and need to find a way to sustain my living expenses.

"I'm keeping a lot of stuff myself," Averill continued, "but I can't keep everything. I've given a lot away already to friends and family. I don't just want to throw the rest away, because I know a lot of this stuff would mean something to his fans."

There also are lots of handwritten poems and/or lyrics. One such sheet, titled "Enough Sleep," would be used for the song "Bad Day," with such lines as: "My head hurts, my body aches and I ain't got nothing to do / Forget it, I'll just take out my anger on you, now I feel cool."

Another meaningful item: a program from Cincinnati's Scribble Jam rap battle, where a then-little-known Larsen triumphed in 1999 and went on to win the Blaze Battle televised on HBO a year later.

From there, his duo Eyedea & Abilities released three cult-loved albums for Rhymesayers in the 2000s and toured extensively, including as part of the Warped and Rock the Bells tours. Larsen also issued albums on the side under the alter-ego Oliver Hart and with experimental groups such as Face Candy and Carbon Carousel.

For Averill, going through the mementos from his career is "a trip down memory lane," she said, because she attended many of his gigs — sometimes out of necessity because her son was underage when he started performing.

Given her support then and their close relationship (he was her only child), she said, "I'm doing this because he'd have wanted it. He would be supporting me now if he could."

Rhymesayers issued a 20th anniversary edition of Larsen's "The Many Faces of Oliver Hart" on double-LP vinyl last year and also has reissued Eyedea & Abilities' albums to vinyl. Averill helped gather unreleased tracks for an independent Eyedea album, "39 Lines," for what would have been Larsen's 39th birthday in 2020, and she said there is more unreleased music to mine in coming years.