Search - Various Artists :: Eastern Conference All-Stars 2

R.A. saves the day...again!!!

B. Kovach | Trenchtown, RK USA | 11/16/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"After last years "Porn Again", I couldn't wait to see what Eastern Conference Records founders Mighty Mi and Eon would release next. Well, here it is. A collection of underground cuts from some of the nastiest MC's holdin mics these days.

Besides the obvious appearances from Smut Peddlers and High and Mighty, some of the other 'usual suspects have returned. Mad Skillzproves his name to be true once again on "Pressure Time", while Evidence rhymes over an insane sample of "Long Distance Runaround" by YES, showing 'evidence' of having just enough skillz to pull off a full song on his own ("Emergency").'Newcomers' such as an impressive Tame 1, who puts his own spin on Slick Rick's "The Moment I Feared", and Defari (UNDERATED!!!) hold their own along side veteran MC's Big Daddy Kane and Kool Keith. Keith's "Thug or What?" is the not only the hottest cut on the album, but the hottest cut Keith has put out in a long time!!!The few weak points arrive when mediocre rappers such as Pacewon and Pretty Ugly fail to bring anything new to the table. Charlie 2una of the crossOVERrated Jurassic 5 almost put me to sleep until I was awoken by the dirty, crusty flow of R.A. THE RUGGED MAN!!! HipHop's 'best kept secret' has been let out of his cage once again to bring us "Homecoming Queen", a brilliant coming of age story. The "modern day Rocky Dennis" never fails to save any compilation he touches! It's just too bad Priority can't get their act together and release his LONG AWAITED ALBUM-AMERICAN LOWLIFE!!!So, despite a few weak appearance from some so-so MC's and an unnecesary remix track at the end that could have been a KWEST THA MADD LADD song instead, the album is hot and definitely worth buying if you're into REAL HIPHOP!!!"