Philly's Might Mi and Mr. Eon, better know as The High & Mighty present the second installment of their successful compilation series in time for the holiday buying season. This one is chock full of 215 connections as you'll see as you read on...

The game tips off with a misstep on the uninspired Smut Peddlers cut Red Light. The High & Mighty + 1 simply don't get this cut past first gear although I'm sure many of y'all will vehemently disagree. With the home team putting themselves in the leadoff spot out of the way, Royce Da 5'9" starts the break with the solid mixtape cut Nickel Nine, that bridges the gap between the album's initial track and the smmmmmmmmmmmmmoth butta of Skillz (Madd Skillz) Pressure Time. This kid is hands down one of the nicest emcees of all time. YES I said all time. Nuff said. Everything about this head noddin' track is MVP material. Hip Hop doesn't get any better than the Virginia Squire. Right there in the funk inspiring mode as Skillz is the Jurassic Five & Charli 2una collab entitled The Bread Winner. Just a gang of rhyme spitter going for flows over a funky backbeat. Takin' it back to basics like EZ Jase....

After some disappointing album filler it picks back up with Pacewon's expected high level performance, here represented as All Get By. It gets totally 215 on the updated version of Steady B's Let The Hustler's Play as Philly emcees Last Emperor and Mr. Eon spit nothing but Illadelph references after shouting DJs like Cosmic Kev, Lady B & Jay-Ski. Did you ever think you'd hear a rhyme that big upped Al Alberts, the Please Touch Museum, Lou Tilley and Frank Rizzo??? This is one of those FUNK the rest of the world tracks you're destined to love. The certified legend Big Daddy Kane comes off the bench but double dribbled through The Jump Off. Its not that the cut's wack but the wrath of Kane simply wasn't designed to sound like this. The equally legendary Kool Keith turns in, well, a Kool Keith record. This one titled Thug Or What? How inspiring. Moving on, Philly's own Pretty Ugly offers up The Struggle. Unlike the aforementioned vets, PU throws down some interesting portraits delivered via his effortless flow. Defari is one of the Westside Eastern Conference All Stars and upstages many of his east coast teammates on the funk flowing Look Into My Eyes. Another mixtape staple for the backpack set here.

All in all I gotta give Eastern Conference All Stars II a thumbs down. It comes off as elongated, uneven and uninspired. Aside from the Skillz track there's nothing here with much lasting power. At least not on the level we all came to expect. Who got next?

Review by Funk Wizard Snow
Editor- PhillyHipHop.com
December, 2001