Recording information: Eriksplan 1, Stockholm, Sweden; Studio 238.
Photographer: Kyle Dettman.
Benjah Tedashii Anderson's third long-player opens with the explosive "Riot," a sequel of sorts to the equally propulsive "Make War" from 2009's Identity Crisis. The Houston, Texas-based rapper may sound Dirty South, but his rhymes rise up from the squalor in search of a higher power. Backed by a small army of collaborators including Flame & Jai, Sho Baraka, Lecrae, and Shane & Shane -- the latter of whom provide one of the album's more transcendent moments during the moody, "Gangsta's Paradise"-inspired choruses of "Finally" -- Blacklight finds the CCM rapper in fine form, building a bridge between the mean streets and the open sky while keeping his finger firmly on the pulse of 21st century hip-hop. ~ James Christopher Monger
