By the Throat (Eyedea & Abilities album)

By the Throat is the third studio album by American hip hop duo Eyedea & Abilities. It was released on July 21, 2009 via Rhymesayers Entertainment. The album was supported by music videos for the songs "Junk"^[1] and "Smile".^[2]

By the Throat
Studio album by Eyedea & Abilities
Released	July 21, 2009 (2009-07-21)
Genre	Alternative hip-hop
Length	29:53
Label	Rhymesayers
Producer	DJ Abilities Eyedea
Eyedea & Abilities chronology
E&A (2004) By the Throat (2009) Grand's Sixth Sense (2011)

In the United States, the album debuted at number 38 on the Independent Albums and number 9 on the Heatseekers Albums charts. Following Eyedea's death in October 2010,^[3] the album peaked at number 91 on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, marking the duo's final album to be released during his lifetime.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	76/100[4]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Alternative Press	3.5/5[5]
HipHopDX	2.5/5[6]
PopMatters	9/10[7]
RapReviews	9/10[8]
Spectrum Culture	3/5[9]
Urb	[10]

By the Throat was met with generally favorable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 76 based on six reviews.^[4]

Andrew Dietzel of PopMatters praised the album, stating: "By the Throat, succinct and emotive, is the perfect convergence of styles, attacking the listener's jugular with a powerful punk thrust, cynical observations, and an out-and-out assault on hip-hop's standards".^[7] John-Michael Bond of RapReviews called it "an emotional and creative masterpiece in the genre of hip hop".^[8] Adam Figman of Urb wrote: "combined with newly found experiences, newly discovered self-awareness and newly refined skills, By the Throat catches this almost-forgotten duo at a new height of the pair's combined powers. Well worth the wait".^[10] Chris Parker of Alternative Press declared: "the duo of MC Eyedea and DJ Abilities have always possessed more potential than they've realized and By The Throat doesn't change that balance".^[5]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Micheal David Larsen.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Hay Fever"	2:20
2.	"Spin Cycle"	3:39
3.	"Time Flies When You Have a Gun"	1:44
4.	"Burn Fetish"	2:55
5.	"Sky Diver"	4:16
6.	"Junk"	2:46
7.	"Forgive Me for My Synapses"	1:02
8.	"This Story"	2:33
9.	"Factory"	1:55
10.	"Smile"	4:02
11.	"By the Throat"	2:41
Total length:		29:53

Personnel

• Micheal "Eyedea" Larsen – lyrics & vocals, guitar (tracks: 1, 3–6, 8–10), keyboards (tracks: 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11), bass (tracks: 1, 9), percussion & drum programming (tracks: 2, 10), producer (tracks: 1, 5), recording, mixing
• Gregory "DJ Abilities" Keltgen – keyboards (tracks: 1, 3, 4, 7), turntables (tracks: 2, 4, 6–8, 10), bass (track 3), producer
• J.T. Bates – drums (track 1)
• Jeremy Ylvisaker – guitar (tracks: 2, 8, 11), bass (tracks: 2, 6), percussion (track 2)
• Casey O'Brien – bass (track 4)
• Brian Johnson – mixing, mastering
• Michael Gaughan – artwork
• Siddiq – layout, design

Charts

Chart (2009–2010)	Peak position
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[11]	91
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[12]	38
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[13]	9