While the kingpins in the rap game ride the safe zone and toast the high life with fake beefs and overhyped, subpar albums boasting safe, star-studded appearances (Blueprint 3, anyone?), there's a relatively new batch of unconventional cats picking up the ball and running with it. One of them is Michael Larsen, better known as the vocal half of Eyedea & Abilities.  

Eyedea & Abilities have been in action for nearly a decade, though they backburnered the project to pursue more personal endeavors and solo projects following the 2004 release of E&A. After a five year break to sow their musical oats, Larsen and partner Gregory Keltgen have returned as Eyedea & Abilities with By the Throat, their new album that dropped July 21st on Rhymesayers.

By the Throat advances beyond the duo's history as battle assassins (winners of Scribble Jam, Rocksteady, the Blaze Battle and the D.M.C.s) and shows a matured - but no less experimental - development in their sound. It defies the standard rap model, with the rhymes often coming in frantic, passionate bursts that sketch over traditional structure and rap formulaics. That's the point, and that's why it's one of the best, most honest releases we've heard this year. 

We caught up with Mike (Eyedea) to get some insight on the new album and his other projects, as well as the sorry-ass state of mainstream hip-hop today. 

CraveOnline: Caught your set at Rock the Bells a couple weeks ago - how's the festival atmosphere suit you? That definitely wasn't your crowd out there... people waiting to see Slaughterhouse.

Eyedea: It was cool - I mean I hate to sound like a whiner, but it was kind of a hell of a lot of traveling for... not necessarily for an audience that knows you, so it's kind of a hassle. But the festival itself was great. It was a lot of fun. 

CraveOnline: Yeah, that seemed like a lot of work for a 20-25 minute set. It can't be easy to go out in front of a crowd that doesn't know you, that's expecting a straight hip-hop show, and bust out into a song like "Spin Cycle," where you're actually singing. To someone who hasn't heard it, that's gotta be hard to digest at first.

Eyedea: I think we're pretty punk rock about the whole thing. That comes from just being ratty kids, and we're still kind of ratty adults but when it comes to playing live, you just have to go up there and not give a fuck. You can't care. Make sure that you're playing for you, and that one person who wants to see someone doing something different, something for themselves. Because really, that's exactly what I'm shooting for - that one kid whose mind is gonna get blown. Also, I've been through so much stuff for the fact that I started a rock band a couple years ago, and I've got this free-jazz thing on the side, and people would actually physically throw shit at me. I'd get death threats, it was unreal. But I put that out there, instead of the macho hip-hop face that I thought I had to... that damn near everybody does. 

CraveOnline: It's the safe thing. Machismo is more crucial than ever in the scene these days, it seems.

Eyedea: Yeah, and that shit is creatively stifling. It keeps cats from doing what the fuck they really want to do, you know? They just don't have it in 'em to go against the grain - especially those who have rent to pay.