Twin Cities native Michael Larsen, better known as Eyedea, made a name for himself with his freestyle battle rap skills and as one-half of the duo Eyedea & Abilities.

Larsen died in 2010 from an accidental drug overdose at age 28, but he left behind thousands of pages of handwritten lyrics, some dating back more than three decades.

"He was very smart, extremely smart," said mother Kathy Averill. "Very well read at an early age."

Larsen's mother knows these physical works wont last forever. The question was how to preserve it all?

Local MCs, even Larsen's mother, read old lyrics, which were combined with old recordings and fed into an AI program. That's how the recently released Eyedea album came to be.

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